Power Rangers: Legion of Monsters
by Michelle the Editor
Summary: The Alchemist, in his plot to destroy the Stellar Corps Rangers, recruits teenagers whose pasts involved Power Rangers, and gives them powers based on classic monsters. Begins at Stellar Corps chapter 5, but both are independent stories. Color swaps have been made in anticipation of revisions.
1. Chapter 1: The Last Recruit

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or Doctor Who.

~oMo~

Jacob Anderson pulled his squad car over at the curb, smacking the siren off and leaping out. A giant mummy loomed over the warehouse district, roaring with laughter as he smashed through buildings. People ran every which way in blind panic, and the other policemen were trying to calm them down. Jacob went straight to the police chief for orders.

"Junior Police squad reporting, sir," he said, snapping a quick salute.

Chief Crandall gestured towards a gutted warehouse. "Check that building for survivors. And be careful; there may be Weeping Angels inside. If you spot anything that even looks like a statue, call for backup and don't take your eyes off it." Saluting again, Jacob charged off to obey, crunching rubble underfoot. Overhead, four Zords screamed down from the sky, and the people stopped running to cheer. Chief Crandall took advantage of the pause to start yelling evacuation instructions to his men.

One window of the second story was exposed, and Jacob smashed it in with the butt of his flashlight. Clipping it back to his belt, Jacob swung himself up, slid through the window and landed on the floor with a light thump. It was dark and cobwebby, the floor sagged down towards the far corner and part of the roof had collapsed, but he spotted a woman lying under a filing cabinet.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jacob yelled, but she didn't answer. The roof sagged, and dust trickled through. Panting, the Junior Police officer crawled under the cabinet, tensed his muscles, and pushed with his back. The cabinet went up and over with a crash, and Jacob checked the woman's pulse. He let out a deep breath as he found one, fast and light but definitely there.

"Hey!" Jacob ran back to the window. The floor sagged further, and hairline cracks spread outwards from the break. Waving frantically, he got the attention of a paramedic. "I've got an unconscious person in here!" He shouted, and the man ran over. "I'll pass her to you."

"Try and support her head, we don't know if she might have back injuries," the paramedic said, standing right up against the window. As carefully as he could, Jacob picked up the woman, resting her head in the crook of his arm, and carried her to the window. A huge chunk of the floor fell away, and the entire room shook.

Hands shaking, Jacob maneuvered the woman's feet out through the window, into the hands of the paramedic. There was a metallic groan, and Jacob looked over his shoulder to see one of the steel pillars bend under the weight of the ceiling. Sweat dripped into his eyes, blinding him momentarily. He was only holding the woman's head and shoulders now, and he nearly dropped her in his haste to get her out.

"Get clear!" He shouted to the paramedic, as the pillar tore in two with a screech and the ceiling fell in. Throwing up his arms, Jacob fell flat on his back as chunks of masonry and plaster rained down on him. Battered on all sides by the debris, the Junior Policeman rolled down towards the widening hole in the floor. He wondered briefly if the Power Rangers would notice him, and then he hit the basement floor with a bone-jarring crack, his vision flashed white, and darkness took over.

~oMo~

The first thing Jacob saw on opening his eyes was a white, low tiled ceiling. He blinked, and realized that he was lying flat on his back, on what was either a very uncomfortable bed or a padded table, and there was an IV in his left arm. He was clean, unbruised, in a hospital gown, and cuffed down by his upper arms and ankles. For a second, Jacob wondered what was going on, and then he remembered. Monster attack.

"Hey!" Jacob yelled, and tried to wriggle out of the restraints. "Is anyone there? Hello?" There wasn't. Dropping back on the table, Jacob realized that his hands and felt…wrong. First by flexing his fingers, and then reaching up, he realized that his fingers were all webbed. Beginning to panic, Jacob looked to the small bedside table, mainly filled with silvery, dangerous-looking tools. Awkwardly grabbing a metal tray, he shook the scalpels and forceps off with a clatter and held it up to his own face.

Bright yellow eyes looked back at him, distorted by the tray but still very clearly there. He had three slits on either side of his throat, which twitched open as he inhaled sharply. Jacob dropped the tray with a clang, slumping back against the thin layer of padding.

He was still trying to put all the pieces together when the door opened. Jacob twisted around to see a hunchbacked, dwarfish man enter, shut the door, and look him in the eye. He didn't look surprised or bothered in the least, though it was difficult to tell under his bushy eyebrows and hooked nose.

"Who are you? What's going on?" The stranger said nothing, only coming closer. Jacob grabbed the hunchback's wrists, glaring up at him. The man was completely unfazed.

"Igor Fischer, and you were beyond the help of normal science when we got you out of that building," the man said, jerking his arms free and seizing Jacob's IV-ed arm. Jacob pulled away, but Fischer's grasp was firm, and he began removing the needle.

"You're also in the Hexagram, if you're wondering. No I will not tell you what that is. You are probably wondering why you look like this. It's complicated, but all you need to know is that I have a drug based on previous formulas used to regenerate monsters to make them grow giant-sized," Fischer said, letting go of Jacob's arm and shuffling around the table. Jacob waited until his back was turned, and grabbed the biggest scalpel on the table.

"It's not me you should complain to. The Alchemist will call in soon to debrief you. Clothes in that closet." Fischer reached down, pushed a button on the underside of the bed, and the cuffs snapped open. He turned towards the door, but Jacob wrapped an arm around him and held the scalpel to his neck.

"Give me your phone." Fischer didn't so much as blink.

"I don't have one. Put that down and let go of me." Jacob let out a short, dangerously hysteric laugh. "Put it down unless you intend to kill me, because even if I could comply with your request, I would not." Fischer waited. Eventually, Jacob's shoulders slumped, and he tossed the scalpel away, letting go of the hunchback.

"Good. Now, we don't have much time, so don't ask any questions. You will receive a message in a few minutes, making you an offer. If you do not like what you're told, accept anyway and sneeze twice the next time you see me. I will give you further instructions then." Then he left, closing the door quietly after him.

Jacob opened his mouth, but couldn't come up with a reply. He sat back down on the table, and put his head in his hands. What was this, Mission: Impossible? Finally, he decided to get out of the stiff hospital gown, and then try to sort this out.

The closet Fischer had mentioned was bigger than it had looked, and full of black jumpsuits for some reason. Jacob retrieved the scalpel, deciding it would be a good idea to have some kind of weapon handy as he slipped it into his pants pocket. Jacob was folding the cuffs up when the wall to his right lit up.

He started, and turned to look as an old man appeared on the screen. He was seated in an all-black room, and only his head and shoulders were visible. The fluorescent light tinged his lab coat and lined face green. Shuddering, Jacob wished he could pull his gaze from the stranger's intensely blue, cold eyes. Opening his mouth, the man began to speak. His voice was low and slightly raspy.

"Hello, Jacob Anderson. Yes, I know your name. I know all about you. I am the Alchemist, and you have been rescued from certain death because I have a mission for you. You will complete my team of Power Rangers and destroy the Stellar Corps Power Rangers." Jacob stared at him for about a second, and protested.

"Destroy Power Rangers? They're the protectors of Earth! If we killed them the Weeping Angels would kill everyone in the galaxy!"

"Enough whining," the Alchemist snapped. "If it were not for them, you would not be here." He looked Jacob directly in the eye, unblinking.

"Jacob, I know how the original Power Rangers saved your father from Lord Zedd and you yourself from going over a near-cliff. These 'Stellar' Rangers didn't even notice you, trapped mere yards away from them. They are unworthy of the Power Ranger title, and all I want you to do is help me take it from them. My formula has not only healed you, but accelerated your fighting abilities. You've always wanted to be a Power Ranger yourself, and I'm giving you that chance."

"No," Jacob said, folding his arms and glaring at the Alchemist. The old man matched his glare, and leaned into the camera. His breathing was harsh, nasal and fast.

"There's something else," he said, "that you may want to know about before making a decision. Your mind is infected with the image of a Weeping Angel. There is no cure, and the only treatment is my secret formula, which wears off every twenty-four hours. Your choices are becoming my Black Ranger, and destroying a set of overpowered posers, or dying and unleashing a psychopathic and incredibly powerful alien on those around you. I'll give you a minute to think about it."

Jacob turned away from him, and grabbed handfuls of his thick brown hair in frustration. What now?

Fischer. He'd warned Jacob, and he obviously had some sort of plan. Taking a deep breath, Jacob turned back to the Alchemist, who was tapping out the seconds with one finger.

"I accept," he said, stepping into the at ease position, sweating hands clasped behind his back. The Alchemist smiled—which turned out to be a more frightening look than his frown; it made him look completely insane. He pushed a button, and a drawer at the base of the table popped out.

Stepping over, Jacob picked up the square, belt-buckle morpher that lay there, and turned it in his hands. It was black, perfectly smooth and gleamed in the fluorescent light. Four fang-shaped protrusions held the silver Power Coin in the center. The coin itself was engraved with a webbed, clawed hand.

"You will be the Black Gill-Man Ranger," the Alchemist said, "your team is just through that door." Sitting back with a satisfied air, the Alchemist turned off the screen with a click.

~oMo~

Trivia: As it turns out, Jacob Anderson in The Ninja Encounter-this guy-was played by Jacob Frank, Jason David Frank's real-life son. I had no idea when I first conceived of or wrote this fic, and my mind is now blown.


	2. Chapter 2: Morphing Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, and most of my cast is technically very minor canon characters that I've aged up and granted surnames—though one didn't have any name at all.

~oMo~

Jacob padded to the door, still holding the morpher. His bare feet were nearly silent on the tiled floor, and the door swung open just as quietly.

Jacob stepped into a hallway. Like the room, it was a sterile, undecorated white that nearly hurt to look at. He grasped the scalpel and walked down the silent passage. His breathing was so loud it startled him, and his hands were very cold. Eventually the teen came to another door, and was just about to open it when the knob turned. He jumped back as it swung outwards, raising the scalpel. A boy maybe a year younger than him stood there, staring at him with a wry expression. Neither one moved.

"You gonna do something with that?" The boy asked. He had neat brown hair combed forward and short sideburns. His eyes were red and glowed a little, his skin was nearly paper-white, and his smile revealed a pair of fangs. Jacob put the scalpel back in his pocket.

"Don't bother keeping it," the newcomer said, "You'll get real weapons later. I'm Charlie, Red Vampire Ranger." He stepped back, and let Jacob enter the all-black room. It was wide, round, and in use.

A black girl in her late teens twirled a rope with flaming balled-up ends, wrapping it around her waist and then swinging it out to arm's length. Leaning on the wall watching her was a green-skinned woman. Two white streaks ran through her brown hair, which was pulled away from her face in a high ponytail. Much less visible, on the other side of the room an Asian boy glided through a series of karate moves.

The woman stood up as Charlie shut the door, looking at Jacob with mild interest. Her eyes were all-black, though, so it was difficult to tell exactly where she was looking.

"You're our last Ranger," she said, strolling over, hands in her jumpsuit pockets. She pulled one out to shake Jacob's hand, and her hand was icy cold. "I'm Heather Whitestone, she's Layla Farida, and he's Joe Chan," she said, gesturing to the others, both of whom were too busy to respond.

"Jacob Anderson," he replied, taken thoroughly off-guard by Heather's bizarrely normal behavior. She let go of his hand, still smiling, though her all-black eyes made the expression artificial-looking and eerie. Off to Jacob's right, Layla extinguished the fire meteors and began coiling the rope.

Charlie spoke up. "The Alchemist showed me your file, so I know you can fight. Your Power Weapon is the Storm Trident, and using it should be instinctive once you're morphed," Charlie said, as Heather strolled away. "We're going to attack Stellar Corps at about oh-nine-hundred hours, so you have six hours to rest."

~oMo~

"Black Ranger!" Jacob sprang up from his bed, and looked around groggily. He was in the same tiny room he'd first woken up, only it was dark now. The Alchemist's voice came through speakers built invisibly into the wall. "It is time for your first battle. Go meet the others in the main room; they will give you your further instructions." Stretching, Jacob went to the door and trotted down the hallway.

The other four Rangers were already there when he arrived, all fully awake despite it being—well, he suspected it was early in the morning, but he couldn't tell time in here. Blinking at the bright lights, Jacob stepped into line with the others.

"The Rangers are investigating an Angel attack," Heather said, stepping forward and touching part of the wall. It lit up and turned into a screen, which revealed two Zords flying towards Earth's surface, the Eagle and the Lion. "Charlie will deliver the message. If they resist—and from what we know about these Rangers, they will—Layla and I will join him, followed by Jacob and Joe. Any questions?"

"How do we morph?" Jacob asked. Heather turned to face him, unclipping her belt morpher.

"Like this," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Unleash the monster within!" She exclaimed, and held her morpher out at arm's length with both hands.

_Lying under a sheet on a table, Heather is struck repeatedly by lightning bolts. She stands up, the sheet and her skin glowing green-white. The light thickens and solidifies into her Ranger suit, green and shot through with black lightning bolts. Her cape blows in the wind as she drops into a fighting stance._

"Okay," Jacob said, looking over the suit. "So, evil girl Rangers don't get skirts?" Even with her face hidden under the helmet, Jacob could feel Heather's glare. He took up his morpher sheepishly.

"Unleash the monster within!" The four cried in unison.

_Charlie springs out of a coffin in an underground crypt, and his long red-and-black cape wraps around him before melting into his Red Ranger suit. The black lightning bolts across his shoulders and chest gleam as he strikes a pose._

_Inside a pyramid, Layla floats out of a sarcophagus, and bandages wind around her limbs, covering her entire body. They smooth out and become her Yellow Ranger uniform. The torchlight catches her black sleeves and pants as she poses._

_Joe stands under a full moon in the woods. Fur sprouts through his skin and clothes, runs together and becomes his Blue Ranger suit. The fanged helmet closes over his face, and he takes a fighting stance._

_Jacob dives into deep, black water. As the air rushes past him in bubbles, his skin turns into scales, which thicken and solidify into a Black Ranger uniform. He shoots up out of the water and lands on one knee, arms out._

The five appeared in an abandoned quarry, and Heather didn't wait for Jacob to ask any questions.

"Fischer controls the teleportation system. We turn into our Zords," she said, putting her left hand on her morpher and raising her right.

"This may sound familiar to you. By the power and force of lightning, make me grow!" Wreathed in green lightning bolts, Heather grew about thirty stories tall. Her shoulder piece covered her chest and hardened into armor, and her gloves and boots became vambraces and greaves. The outlines of her visor and the fangs on her helmet were more defined. The others had to step back to avoid being crushed.

"Right," Jacob said, "That's surprisingly nostalgic." Charlie elbowed him in the ribs.

"By the power and force of lightning, make us grow!" The Rangers cried, and Jacob felt little electrical tickles all over his body. Then the ground fell away beneath him, and his suit armored up like Heather's had. His body felt heavy, as though it had turned to lead in the change. Even though he knew this meant they were about to go into battle against the good guys, Jacob felt a shiver of excitement at beholding his and his teams' Zord forms. A pair of bat wings grew out of Charlie's shoulders, but other than that there was precious little difference between the Zords and their ordinary Ranger forms.

"_Follow me,"_ Heather said in Jacob's mind as she leaped into the air. Rockets lit up on the soles of her feet, and she shot into space. Not really surprised at anything anymore, Jacob wondered whether the telepathy only came with the Zord form, to which Charlie replied, _"Yes, thankfully."_ The Rangers followed Heather up, Charlie using his wings to pass her and fly out of sight into the darkness.

"Spread out," Heather said, "Remember the plan." The others did, and waited. Jacob's heart pounded, startlingly loud in the dead silence of space. Hovering next to Joe, he felt the Blue Ranger whisper aloud the phrase "Eclipse Saber," and the weapon appeared with a flash.

"Storm Trident," Jacob breathed, and it materialized in his grip, an elegant, silver-bound black weapon with barbed points. He whirled it, its length giving it momentum and weight.

"_Boys, it's your cue,"_ the Green Ranger's voice rippled through his head. He jumped, and chased quickly after Joe, who'd already started for the fight. They came up just as Charlie took a barrage of hits from the Eagle Zord. Raising his sword, Joe sent three blue energy blasts at the Zord, hitting it just above the wing.

The Zord swung around to face them, and then radio static fizzed down Jacob's spine. Jacob could hear Charlie speaking, his voice distorted just like Heather's. A yellow Lion Zord zoomed away towards Earth, but Layla and Heather blocked his way, and he pulled up short.

"This is a warning to Stellar Corps," the Red Ranger said, "Surrender to the Alchemist or be destroyed."

"Sorry, not happening," the Eagle's driver replied, his voice crackly from radio static, shooting at Joe. The Blue Zord raised its saber and deflected all of the shots out into space. The Lion Zord tried to escape, but Layla wrapped the chain of her meteor hammer around its leg and dragged it back.

"Go contact your friends," Charlie continued. "We will not destroy you until you have delivered the message."

"Deliver your own message!" The other Red Ranger snarled, and dove below Charlie. Joe swooped forward, but not before the Eagle shot up, grabbing Charlie's wings with his talons. With a scream of tearing metal, he ripped the bat wings off and threw them at the Blue Ranger.

"Come and get me!" The Jupiter Ranger taunted, drawing back to make another charge. The Lion Zord roared and bit down on Layla's arm, and Heather took the opportunity to draw a pair of giant daggers and stab it in the back. Sparks flew and metal tore, and the Lion let go with a howl.

Regaining control, Charlie dove back into the fight, raising his crossbow as the Eagle Zord zoomed directly below him. The Red Monster Ranger waited until the very last second, and then fired one bolt directly into the Zord's eye. The Eagle swerved, missing Charlie completely and spinning off into space.

The Lion Zord swung around, its enormous claws digging tears across Heather's stomach. Doubling over, she hacked at the Zord with her daggers, each blow splitting open part of the hull and creating a shower of sparks. Layla wrapped her meteor hammer around her neck to give it momentum, and slammed it into the Zord's shoulder, throwing him loose and nearly shattering the joint.

Gliding below the Eagle, Joe hacked off one of its talons, leaving a stump of sparking wires. Jacob dove into the battle, his trident catching the Eagle Zord in the middle of the back and at the joint of one wing. Twisting around, the Eagle bit off one of the prongs and shot it from its mouth, hitting Jacob in the shoulder. The unexpected pain shocked Jacob into letting go, and the battered Eagle ripped his trident out of his hands.

Anger flared in the pit of Jacob's stomach, and quickly flooded the rest of his body. He dove forward, retrieving his trident, and stabbed the infuriating Zord in the chest as fast and hard as he could, enjoying the explosions of sparks. Then, Charlie pushed him back, saying in his mind, _"We need them to deliver the message."_ The two girls let go of the Lion Zord, and it drifted towards the Eagle, its eye lights flickering feebly. Looking at the crippled Zords, the realization of what he'd just done slammed into Jacob like a punch in the stomach, and his whole body went cold.

"Return to base," Charlie said, and before Jacob could even catch his breath, he'd been turned into a beam of blue light. Then he was back in the quarry just long enough for Fischer to return him to normal size, and shot back into the Hexagram. The power fled back into his morpher, and Jacob fell down, trembling all over with what was left of his adrenaline rush. The barb dug into his shoulder as he moved, and then suddenly it was ripped right out.

Letting out a surprised yell of pain, Jacob looked around to see Joe examining the reddened barb, and then get up and walk away with it without a word. Bunching up his sleeve, Jacob tried to stop the bleeding, and looked to the rest of his team. Charlie slumped against the wall and slid to the floor, completely winded. Cradling her mangled forearm and trying to suppress her sobs, Layla went over to Fischer, who was already injecting something into Heather's side as she leaned against him. The Green Ranger was doubled over and clutching her stomach, but as Fischer finished giving her the shot, her wet gasping began to subside.

"What…" Jacob panted, looking at his teammates.

"The same formula that saved you before," Fischer said, sitting Heather down and moving on to Layla. "As long as the part hasn't been removed or you're brain-dead, it'll cure your injuries. Make you even more monster-ish, but saves you." He met Jacob's eye, and the Black Ranger gave the best fake sneezes he could, two in quick succession.

~oMo~

Trivia: Jacob's Sentai counterpart is a girl named Ayame Ino, and Layla (Aito Hayashi) and Heather's (Makoto Ino) are boys.


	3. Chapter 3: Calling the Angels

Disclaimer: Don't own Power Rangers or Doctor Who.

~oMo~

Fischer gave Jacob a very faint nod, and shuffled across the room to him, drawing out another syringe. Now fully healed, Heather examined the blood-saturated rags that had been her jumpsuit, and left to change. Layla went the other way, probably to do the same, and only the Red and Black Rangers were left with the hunchback in the main room of the Hexagram.

"Watch what you say," Fischer said, ripping Jacob's sleeve open and sponging the blood away from the wound. Trying to hold still, Jacob glanced over the man's shoulder to Charlie, who returned his gaze unflinchingly.

"I like it as much as you do," Charlie said, rising and starting to pace. Joe slipped back in, and Fischer glanced up at him.

"The Alchemist wants to call the Angels again," he said. Joe stopped up short, shivered a little and then nodded.

"Now?" He asked.

"As soon as possible." With a sigh, the sixteen-year-old went to the far end of the room, bent down and touched a spot on the black floor. The area around him began sinking, and soon disappeared entirely.

"What do we do?" Jacob asked, and winced as Fischer stuck the needle in just above his wound. He decided to hold off asking what Joe was doing, and see if he could figure it out himself.

"Subterfuge," the hunchback said, and withdrew the syringe, pressing a pad of gauze to the wound. Jacob took hold of it, and held it in place with two fingers as Fischer put the empty syringe away. "You could feign incompetence, if pain isn't an issue. You could be obsessed with destroying your opposite, or you could be the noble warrior."

"I'm the logical one," Charlie said, pausing by a door. "No collateral damage because it's a waste of energy, and why give away our services for free?" Jacob took the pad away, and saw that the hole in his shoulder had stopped bleeding already. Fischer closed up the case of his formula and put it in a drawer, which slid invisibly back into the wall.

"Okay," Jacob said, crumpling the red-spotted gauze. "I'll try color obsession, since I haven't met their Black Ranger yet." Fischer nodded, stepping onto the same square as Joe had been, and pushing the spot on the floor.

"By the way, this is fingerprint-activated," he said before dropping completely out of sight. "Only Joe, Layla and I have access."

"Is there another way down?" Jacob asked.

"You're stubborn, I like you," Charlie said, grinning, and pushed a different spot on the floor. Jacob hopped onto the descending elevator with him, and they rode slowly down into a thoroughly different room.

It may have been the same size as the upstairs, but it was hard to tell because of the poor lighting. The room was wall-to-wall computers, and the constant beeping, humming and clicking started grating on Jacob's nerves immediately. Fischer and Joe were near the far end of the room, Joe standing in what looked like a force field and talking to the Alchemist on his screen.

"We do not require your help," the teenager said. There was something strange about the way he spoke, as if someone else was controlling him. "We will take this universe ourselves."

"Not with the Power Rangers. This isn't your universe; you can die here," the Alchemist replied. "Without my help you'll be picked off one by one."

"We do not require your help," Joe repeated. His face was oddly slack, and his nose started to bleed.

"And I do not require your consent," the Alchemist said, leaning into the camera. "Tomorrow, my Rangers will collect you and put you where I want you, whether you consent or not. You may do whatever you wish after that. End the transmission," he snapped to Fischer. The hunchback pulled a lever, and Joe collapsed in a heap as the force field vanished. The Alchemist turned off his camera, and Jacob had to blink the big green spots out of his vision.

"Come out," Fischer said, and Charlie stood up, dusting his pants off. Jacob followed a second later, stiff from crouching for so long. The hunchback rolled Joe onto his back, checked his pulse, and then went back to his machines.

"Okay, then, why did Joe get possessed?" Jacob asked, crouching down and carefully putting the Black Ranger into the rescue position. Fiddling with the machinery, Fischer gestured for Charlie to explain.

"Weeping Angels. Sometimes they'll try to take someone's consciousness and communicate through it, and that's what one tried to do to Joe. The Alchemist got there after Joe's neck got broken, but before the Angel could take him, and saved him like the rest of us, but now Joe's got this telepathic link to the Angels. If he's unconscious and not on the formula we're getting, then they can take over," Charlie said, folding his arms across his chest. Jacob looked from him to Joe, and took a deep breath.

"The rest of us?" He asked. Charlie shook his head.

"Do you ever stop asking questions?" He said, somewhere between annoyance and amusement. Jacob shook his head apologetically. "None of us volunteered for this job. Joe told me what happened to him, and I was in a car crash. I don't know about the girls." Then Joe opened his eyes, blinked a few times, and sat up. He sniffled, touched his nose, and glared at the blood on his fingers.

"I don't see why the Alchemist is so secretive about this," he said, wiping his shaking hands on his pants. "All of you have seen this happen by now."

"I think he likes us knowing as little as possible," Charlie said, leaning on a console. Tucking his knees up to his chest, Joe started rocking back and forth with his eyes shut. The Red Ranger continued. "Heather will probably want to lead the mission. You and Layla go with, I'll stay with Joe. He can't go near the Cimmerian Planet safely."

"The what?"

"The planet the Angels are stuck on." Jacob nodded, feeling suddenly very awkward. Fischer put a hard hand on his shoulder and steered him out towards the elevator, as Charlie squatted down next to Joe and began talking to him in a low voice.

~oMo~

Jacob stood at the window of the sleek black spaceship, looking out as stars flew past. Heather and Layla were waiting nearby, having just unbuckled after their high-speed trip to this far end of the galaxy. Fischer was in the cockpit up front, driving steadily.

"We aren't even going to set foot on the Cimmerian Planet," Layla said. "We'll get the Angels alien abduction-style, they'll have no chance to attack." Jacob started a little. He had not been expecting an accent (Australian? South African? He'd have to ask), and realized he'd only assumed all his companions were Americans.

"They feed on power. What's to stop them from draining ours and making us crash?" He asked.

"We're incompatible," Heather replied, "Like the Stellar Rangers. One good thing they did, create an energy the Angels can't consume." The three Rangers looked silently out at the approaching, red-streaked-with-black Cimmerian Planet. It looked exactly as it had for hundreds of years, no way of telling that there were over a hundred alien beings from another universe now dwelling there, killing whatever came close enough. A warning beacon floating outside the window lit up, and a female voice came over the radio.

"Warning, the Cimmerian Planet is under quarantine. Do not come any further." Fischer continued driving them in, and the warning repeated itself four times. Then they got too close to the planet, and began seeing drained beacons drifting by. Jacob's heart rate increased.

"We're in range," Heather said, stepping away from the window and to the controls surrounding the large force field in the middle of the ship. Layla and Jacob followed, and looked to the Green Ranger for further instructions.

"Push the big, blue button to catch the Angels, and throw this lever here to pull them up to the ship once you have them. We need fourteen, fifteen Angels, so keep going until we're full." Layla nodded once, and Heather pushed the button. A screen on her console lit up, and grinning, she threw the lever. A pair of stone angel statues materialized in the beam. They looked vaguely feminine, and covered their faces in the same gesture that had given them their name.

Catching Weeping Angels turned out to be easier than Jacob had thought. It took a few tries, but he eventually set his tractor beam down on one, and once the Angel was in the light, it was trapped. In twenty minutes, there were fourteen Weeping Angels inside the force field. The blue-white light reflected weirdly off Layla and Heather's all-black eyes.

"Okay, we're good to go, now we need to drop them off, pick up the rest of our team, and go to our attack spot. We're hitting Blue Bay Harbor today," Heather said, turning off her console with a casual flick. Jacob gave the Angels a last look. Trapped like that, they looked far less intimidating than the glimpses he'd had during the battle in Angel Grove. Then he noticed their eerie similarity to how Joe had looked, and shivered.

~oMo~

Whirling her meteor hammer, Layla smashed a sapling in half with one blow. People screamed and ran in every direction from the five Monster Rangers, as they stalked down the street waiting for Stellar Corps to appear. The air was full of acrid smoke and bits of ash, and Jacob was beginning to get a headache when the Swan Zord appeared in the sky.

It settled in the plaza ahead, and the Red and Orange Rangers climbed out. The Monster Rangers halted, and formed an outward-facing circle, weapons drawn. The wind flicked their capes and swung the Yellow Ranger's meteor hammer, but they themselves didn't move a muscle. Jacob realized he wouldn't have to face his opposite, and felt a flicker of worry. What if he lost control again?

"I take it you are refusing the Alchemist's offer?" Charlie asked, hefting his crossbow.

"Yeah, pretty much," the other Red Ranger replied, swinging his Power Sword experimentally.

"Not a wise choice," Heather said, as she spun her twin daggers. Layla swung her meteor hammer, the Oranger Ranger ducking only just in time as the fist-sized metal ball shot over her head. Then the Rangers charged, Heather, Charlie and Joe attacking the Jupiter Ranger and Jacob and Layla going after Elandra.

Layla tangled her meteor hammer around the Orange Ranger's bow and yanked it out of her hands. Dropping into a fighting stance, the Orange Ranger somersaulted forward and swept Layla's feet out from under her. Jacob went after Elandra, but she spun around and kicked him in the wrist, and he dropped his trident with a cry. She followed it up with a right cross to the face, and seeing stars, the Black Ranger fell over.

Layla tried to hit the Orange Ranger again, but the Mars Ranger cartwheeled in the way, entangling her meteor hammer around his forearm. Blinking the splotches out of his vision, Jacob struggled to his feet. Then someone tapped him on the shoulder. Looking around, he met a punch in the face, and dropped to his knees again.

"I do like the lightning bolt motif, very retro," the Yellow Solar Ranger said, "but I question the capes. Don't they get in the way—like this?" Grabbing the cloth in question, he wrapped it over Jacob's head and kneed him in the gut. Layla grabbed Jacob by the elbow and dragged him back, fending off her opposite with well-timed kicks.

As his head cleared, Jacob realized that the Stellar Rangers were herding all of the evil Rangers into the middle of the street. Charlie had a very definite limp, and They fought back, but the other Rangers just quipped and ducked their way towards victory. Jacob said his trident's name again, but it appeared in his hand just as a bolt from the Orange Ranger slammed into his gut, throwing him into Charlie from behind. Dizzily, he looked down to realize that his morpher had cracked. He felt his morph fading, but then they were teleported away before he lost it entirely.

~oMo~

Trivia: The Monster formula used to be much more complicated. It was the blood of several canon monsters (Zen-Aku, Necrolai, Imperious, Sculpin and Morticon or some less famous monsters) which transformed and healed the Rangers. Thanks to a drug Marco added, they also hallucinated they were turning into monsters whenever the drug was taken away, so he also threatened to let them turn into monsters if they wouldn't work for him.


	4. Chapter 4: Midnight

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or Doctor Who.

A/N: My modem has finished dying, and should be replaced by the end of the week, so I'm uploading everything today, piggybacking on the library's wireless internet.

~oMo~

The five Monster Rangers were back in the Hexagram. Fischer stepped away from the teleport controls, and pushed a button so the panel flipped back into the wall. He was frowning, though whether from disapproval or thoughtfulness, Jacob couldn't tell. He sat down hard, bumping the back of his head against the wall. He felt thoroughly bruised and lightheaded, and didn't know whether to be pleased with himself or annoyed at doing so poorly. Then, a sharp pain shot through his stomach, and he doubled over, gasping.

His morpher glowed blue-white, and Jacob yanked it off. There was a hairline crack along the edge of the coin, but as he watched, the light covered it, and when it faded the crack was gone. Jacob slumped back, dropping the morpher. He thought he'd been tired before, but now it felt as if his bones had turned to wax and started melting. Now Jacob didn't particularly care whether to be proud of himself or not.

Fortunately, Layla knew how she felt about his performance. One brown hand seized Jacob's collar and jerked him to his feet, slamming him into the wall. Jacob met the Yellow Ranger's all-black eyes—at least, he thought he did, it was impossible to tell where she was looking—and she scowled.

"What's wrong with you?" She snapped. "You know how to fight, what were you doing out there? Oh yes, making a fool of yourself."

"I wasn't doing it on purpose!" Jacob said, grabbing her wrist, but too tired to peel her fingers off.

"It was only his first morphed fight," Heather said, looking hard at Layla. "He'll do better next time." The Yellow Ranger let go of Jacob, who fell down again, and walked out the far door without another word. Wheeling, Heather fixed Jacob with the same stare.

"Won't he?" It was not a question. Jacob nodded. Heather brightened up instantly. "Good. Fischer, do we have further orders yet?"

"Next mission tomorrow, mid-morning," Fischer said, folding his arms. "Collect Toxicites. Joe," he turned to the Blue Ranger, "I want to speak with you privately." Joe followed him to the elevator, and as the trapdoor slid shut, Charlie got up and walked around the room experimentally.

"Toxicites?" Jacob asked.

"Footsoldiers," Charlie said.

"Ah. What's going on?" Jacob asked, holding up his morpher. Heather went to the weapons rack and ran a finger along her daggers' hilts.

"Our powers are connected to our life forces. If your morpher, or one of your weapons, gets broken, it uses your energy to repair itself. That's also why our powers are non-transferrable. They're keyed to our DNA." Jacob nodded again, and rested his head on the wall. He was peculiarly comfortable, splayed across the floor, but Charlie shook his head.

"Come on," he said, grabbing Jacob's right arm and hauling him to his feet. Heather came up on the other side and the two half-carried the Black Ranger to his own quarters. Blurrily, Jacob wondered how they could tell which of the six identical doors led to his room.

~oMo~

Jacob fell out of bed, snapping awake just as he hit the floor, face-first. Moaning, he sat up, flexing the hand he'd landed on, and shook his head. There was no clock in the room, but it was pitch-black, and had that peculiarly deafening type of silence only heard in the middle of the night.

Shakily, Jacob got up, grabbing the corner of the bed for support. His shin hit the table nearby, and the thunk made him jump. Then the dream came back: Jacob had been a toddler again, sitting in the park with his dad and playing with his morpher for some reason. It tasted like a cough drop, and Jacob remembered how annoyed he'd been to discover that. Occasionally he'd see things from a camera-ish perspective, and then bounce back into his own head. Then Stellar Corps had appeared out of nowhere. Jacob jumped up and started running, but he kept tripping over his own shoelaces, and the other Rangers were always there before he was. He'd somehow gotten into a stroller, but it went out of control and started rolling over a cliff, and that was when he'd woken up.

Running a hand through his damp hair, Jacob made for the door. It slid open, and a light went on, briefly blinding Jacob. He staggered down the hall, keeping one hand on the wall and blinking like an owl. Fortunately, his eyes had adjusted by the time he reached the far door, so when it opened, he could see Heather throwing knives at a practice dummy and crying her eyes out quite clearly.

"Hey," he said, raspy from sleep. Heather started, and scrubbed quickly at her eyes. Her nose and eyes were bluish and blotchy, and she was nearly hiccupping. Jacob coughed and tried again. "Hey, it can't be as bad as all that." Jacob realized immediately what a ridiculous question it was—they had Weeping Angels in their brains and were being forced to fight the Power Rangers, it was pretty bad—but Heather surprised him. Raising her eyebrows incredulously, she let out a curt laugh.

"How did you know?" She asked, sitting down on the floor and crossing her legs. Jacob walked over and sat beside her.

"Know what?" Heather sniffed, and wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"That was what _he_ said, a long time ago." She reached into her left chest pocket.

"Er, would it be stupid of me to ask who you were talking about?" Jacob asked, as Heather drew a flat, silvery badge out, and turned it over a few times. Looking over her shoulder, the Black Ranger noticed the words "Lightspeed Rescue" etched into the metal, and that the once-silver surface was discolored with scorch marks.

"_He _was Carter Grayson, Red Lightspeed Ranger," Heather said, finally in control of her voice. "When I was little, I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and helped out both the Lightspeed Rangers and the Galaxy Rangers, and Carter made me an 'official Junior Ranger.'" She made quotation marks in the air with her free hand. "I don't think he expected me to graduate this way, though."

"What happened?" The nostalgic smile on Heather's face faded.

"A fire," she said, running her hand along the slightly melted gold edge. "I thought there was someone trapped inside. I was wrong. _They_ didn't come, they didn't even notice. Only the Alchemist came to save me." Jacob reached over, and closed his hand over Heather's.

"It wasn't their fault," he said, and Heather stiffened. Meeting her eye, Jacob continued. "It was not the Rangers' fault. They can't be everywhere at the same time."

"But they should have been there!"

Heather ducked her head, and began scrubbing her eyes, trying very hard not to start crying again. Quietly, Jacob reached out, and put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't object, so he reached around and gave her a quick side hug. The Green Ranger immediately pulled him into a full embrace, which she held. The badge dug into Jacob's shoulder blade.

Then the midnight silence was broken by a howl of agony. Heather and Jacob broke apart and jumped up, Heather stuffing the Lightspeed badge back into her pocket. The scream faded, only to come back, stronger than before and definitely coming from below. Charlie charged out of his room, eyes wild and bloodshot.

"Joe?" He yelled, looking around frantically. Layla appeared a second later, awake and alert. The Red Ranger darted to the far trapdoor and hit the button, and the other three hurried after him, making the elevator wobble. Layla slipped off as soon as the gap was wide enough.

Coming down into the computer room again, the Rangers were nearly blinded by a brilliant white flash. Joe was standing in the force field again, only this time there were blue-white lightning bolts dancing up and down his body. His head was thrown back, blood streamed from his ears, eyes and nose, and he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Fischer worked the controls frantically nearby. Charlie grabbed the hunchback by the collar and slammed him into the wall.

"What are you doing?" He screamed. Heather reached for the controls.

"Don't! The shock will kill him," Fischer snapped. "We have to let the procedure finish!" As he got closer, Jacob saw the IV tube in Joe's arm and the frantically blinking machinery.

"I asked what you were doing," Charlie hissed, not letting go of Fischer.

"Killing the Angels." The scientist grasped Charlie's hands and shoved them another, inhumanly shrill voice joined Joe's, and all the Rangers covered their ears in pain. There was one final flash, Joe's whole body jerked, and then he crumpled to the floor.

Layla turned off the force field and darted over to the Blue Ranger, rolling him over onto his back.

"Explain," Charlie said to Fischer, stepping back. Straightening his collar, the hunchback went to the machinery. Swiping the blood out of Joe's face, Layla bent down and felt his neck pulse.

"Nothing," she said, looking to Fischer.

"Get the blood flowing," Fischer said, "the formula will heal whatever happened."

Shoving past the Yellow Ranger, Jacob knelt next to Joe and began CPR. His hands were shaking, but he just focused on watching Joe for any reaction.

"Pick his legs up," Jacob said to Layla, who hurried to comply.

Jacob was relieved to discover that whatever had caused the bleeding hadn't blocked Joe's air passages. A few jokes slid through his head as he began rescue breathing, but he was too busy to make them, and nobody else seemed in the mood anyway.

Fischer started talking. "The Stellar Rangers just attacked the Cimmerian Planet. To destroy all the Weeping Angels on the planet, they used an explosive telepathic wave. Using this technology to amplify it, and Joe's connection to the Angels, I broadcast it across the galaxy. It seems to have successfully destroyed all of the creatures."

Joe coughed wetly and started breathing again, Layla helping him sit upright. Sitting back, Jacob wiped the blood off his mouth. He wondered if any other Ranger, evil or otherwise, had ever had such a bizarre night.

~oMo~

Trivia:I chose fire for Heather's "death," not only because of the connection to Carter, but because that is how every version of Frankenstein's monster (Frankenstein is the creator, not the monster) goes out-though in the original book he did it himself offscreen.


	5. Chapter 5: Sabotage

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.

~oMo~

"I have sent a monster to keep the Rangers occupied," the Alchemist said to his Rangers. "Where is the Blue Ranger?" He asked suspiciously. Joe was understandably absent.

"He's unwell," Charlie said, "Last night he had some sort of fit. Did something happen to the Weeping Angels?" The Alchemist glared.

"You ask too many questions, Red Ranger. Anderson and Whitestone will go to their Satellite Base and sabotage the Zords they have left behind. You cannot teleport into the Base itself, but you can teleport to the Moon and fly inside in Zord Mode. The emergency access code to the Zord Bay is 49273. If you can manage it, try to damage the Zords so they take time to fail. Charlie will monitor the Stellar Rangers, and he'll call when they destroy the monster. You will have twenty minutes to finish and get to the rendezvous point before Fischer brings you back. Get started." He blinked out without another word.

"His eyes don't move," Layla announced, out of nowhere. The others looked at her strangely. "He blinks, but he never looks in more than one direction," she clarified. "That's why something feels off about him."

"That…makes sense, I guess," Jacob said, looking to Heather. She was ponytailing her hair, probably to keep it out of the way. Jacob noticed that it pulled the lightning-bolt streaks straight up against her head. She looked nice with her hair out of her face like that.

"We morph here and transform on the Moon," Heather said. Then she noticed that Jacob was staring at her, and gave him a frown. He snapped out of it and looked away, feeling slightly sheepish.

"Right." Charlie stood next to them.

"Unleash the monster within!" The trio cried.

_Lying under a sheet on a table, Heather is struck repeatedly by lightning bolts. She stands up, the sheet and her skin glowing green-white. The light thickens and solidifies into her Ranger suit. Her cape blows in the wind as she drops into a fighting stance._

_Charlie springs out of a coffin in an underground crypt, and his long red-and-black cape wraps around him before melting into his Red Ranger suit. The black lightning bolts across his shoulders and chest gleam as he strikes a pose._

_Jacob dives into deep, black water. As the air rushes past him in bubbles, his skin turns into scales, which thicken and solidify into a Black Ranger uniform. He shoots up out of the water and lands on one knee._

Teleporting went so quickly that Jacob barely even distinguished it from his morph. The Moon was like the desert at night, only without being bitterly cold—it was quite mild, actually. Overhead, the Satellite Base spun like a silvery top between the two Rangers and the Earth. The entire place was full of midnight silence, the kind that fills the ears with silent humming. Heather tapped Jacob on the arm.

"We don't have all day," she said.

"Relax, I know," Jacob replied. "Have you ever been on the Moon before?"

"No, but we can look at scenery afterwards."

"Wanna bet?" Jacob asked, and Heather paused.

"Let's just go to the Zords."

"By the power and force of lightning, make us grow!"

The transformation was still tingly, and left Jacob feeling like he'd been covered in cement. His engines or rockets or whatever hummed to life as he thought of them, and he lifted off just after Heather. He followed her up into the sky, and the Satellite Base drew closer. Up close, it was stained, and the sunlight glared on white scratches from when it had passed through a meteor shower. The Zord bay was easy to spot, with a wide pair of doors that Heather made a beeline for. Within seconds, she had punched in the code and was gliding inside.

Jacob touched lightly down on the floor, and gazed around as the doors shut again. Lights snapped on as the doors closed, lighting up a wide room filled with enormous Zords. Two places were conspicuously empty, and after a moment Jacob deduced that the Green and Black Zords were the absent ones. Oh well, color obsession would have to wait.

"Come on," Heather said, her voice echoing around the room as she shrank back to normal size. "We'll need to be small to manage these panels." Jacob followed her lead, and headed for the nearest Zord—the Blue Dolphin. He found an access panel quickly enough, and summoned his trident to help pry it loose.

"The Alchemist said something about delaying the damage," Jacob said, as his trident slipped, scoring a long white gash across the Dolphin's side with a metallic screech. He winced, and secretly hoped Stellar Blue would notice the new mark. Pulling off his helmet, he began fiddling with one of the screws. Another panel clanged to the floor.

"Just yank out some wires most of the way so they break when the Rangers try anything tricky," Heather called from behind the Cheetah Zord. "And put the panel back when you're done. They're screwed in."

Jacob muttered something about why they hadn't been given screwdrivers for this job, loosening one screw enough to start twirling it out. A minute later he'd gotten three of the screws loose, and dropping them into his upside-down helmet, he began digging through the wires. There were a lot of them, in many different colors.

"Don't take too long on that one Zord," Heather called again.

"Hey, can't a guy be obsessed for five minutes?" With a shrug, he grabbed a handful of wires and yanked.

"Obsessed? You didn't seem all that interested in destroying the Blue Stellar Ranger yesterday," Heather called. The wires slid out in a loop, but nothing detached.

"Whoops. I think I found the spare parts," Jacob shouted, pulling the wires out hand-over-hand and reaching in behind them. One end of the bundle thumped to the floor. "Besides, yesterday I had bigger things to think about." There was an awkward pause.

"Hurry up, I'm almost done with this one," Heather said. Twisting around to look sideways into the gap, Jacob grinned. He began yanking wires out of their sockets and plugging the loose ones in their place, but not all of them. Stepping back to admire his handiwork, Jacob accidentally kicked his helmet over, and the screws all rolled away in different directions.

"No, don't!" Jacob dove after the screws. As he climbed out from under the Eagle Zord, he found Heather standing there, her green helmet tucked under her arm. She stared at him incredulously, as he held up two of the screws.

"Since when are you such a klutz?" She asked.

"Since I had to work with technology without any tools," Jacob replied, scrambling to his feet. "I'm a Junior Police Officer, not a mechanic. My dad asks me for a hammer, and I ask whether he wants a left or right-handed one. Then again, he's a teacher, so he always says the right-handed one." Heather laughed, and crouched down to fish the last screw out from under the Dolphin's fin.

"Let's go find their tool cabinet," she said, looking at the screw head and heading around the Eagle Zord towards the wall. Jacob followed, and they came to a pegboard of various tools, several of which Jacob had never seen before.

"Heather," Jacob began cautiously, as the girl examined the different screwdrivers to see which fit, "Do you like what we're doing?" Heather paused, and looked up at Jacob. "I don't just mean this," Jacob gestured around the Zord bay. "The whole 'being evil' thing." Heather let out her breath slowly.

"I don't like to think about it," she said, tossing one screwdriver and starting back to the Dolphin Zord. Jacob followed, grabbing another screwdriver at random just in case.

"What do you mean you don't like to think about it? How do you _not_ think about it all the time?" He asked, as Heather slid the panel back into place.

Not looking away from her work, she replied, "Easy. Whenever it starts to come up, I think about something else. Trying to not think about it just makes it the horse's left knee." She held out her hand for another screw, and Jacob passed it to her. This one was trickier to fit in the hole. "I wanted to apologize for the outburst last night."

"What's there to apologize for? You're a human being—well, technically we're all half-and-half, but you know what I mean. Honestly, I don't see how you're not doing that all the time."

"Like I said, I don't think about it," Heather said.

"Do you ever…not want to? Be evil, I mean," Jacob asked. "Or work for the self-described bad guy, anyway." Heather finally got the screw in, and began twisting the screwdriver without replying. The fluorescent light gleamed off her green cape, looped around her arm to be out of the way.

"What else could I do?" She asked, sitting up and taking the last screw from Jacob. "Even if we got away from the Alchemist, I'd be stuck. You and the others could probably go back to normal lives, just get some good contacts and shave your teeth down. Not me. There isn't a planet in the universe with creatures that look like me. I'm not enough of a monster to fit in with _them_, and I'm definitely not human anymore. So, basically," She rose to her feet and met Jacob's gaze, "It isn't a question of whether I want to be evil or not. It's whether I want to be a freak or not." She waited.

"Couldn't Stellar Corps—" Jacob started, but Heather cut him off.

"They can't fix what isn't technically broken," Heather snapped, folding her arms. "Besides, they'd probably kill us before we could ask."

"If they can't restore you, then I'm stuck too," Jacob replied, catching her by the arm as she turned away. "Scales, remember? We can both be freaks together, and yes, I do really mean it." Heather looked him in the eye—or at least Jacob thought she did, without pupils or irises it was hard to tell—and smiled.

"Let's finish up," she said, tossing him the screwdriver.

The next half-hour was quiet, nothing but the sounds of tools and the occasional shower of sparks. Early on, Heather scorched her fingers, letting out a yelp followed by a soft hiss. Jacob kept on flicking switches and crossing wires, but with each job, he tried to leave a little warning sign. He left things like the end of a wire sticking through the panel, a missing screw—though that was usually unintentional—or a fresh, white scratch in the Zord's hull.

As he and Heather finished putting the tools away, Charlie's voice came over their morphers. "Heads up, monster's gone."

As they flew out into space again, Jacob realized how normal Zord form was starting to feel. Before he knew it, they were both back in the Hexagram, along with Charlie. The Alchemist was already there.

"Well done," he said, flashing his weird smile at the three. "You are dismissed. Expect another mission sometime next week." Then the screen turned off. Heather looked over at Jacob.

"Spar with me later?" She asked. Jacob grinned.

"Gladly," he said, and Heather left.

"I guess that's one way to win them over," Charlie said, and put up a hand before Jacob could reply, "I know, you aren't doing it on purpose. Of course you're not; it wouldn't work otherwise. Just don't forget about trying to get Heather on our side while you're on your little date, would you?"

"It's not a—" Jacob began, but Charlie interrupted.

"Yeah it is; what else could you guys do here?"

"Yeah, it is," Jacob admitted. "Now go away." Shrugging, Charlie did.

~oMo~

Trivia: I actually created logos for both this fic and Stellar Corps (though the latter was frankly hideous), and thought I'd lost it for a while before stumbling across it.


	6. Chapter 6: Toxicites

Disclaimer: Don't own Power Rangers.

~oMo~

Jacob snapped awake just before he hit the floor, thunking his knee loud enough to startle the one who'd rolled him out of bed—which was Charlie, this time. Jacob suspected that his teammates were taking turns waking him up.

"We're going out to convert ourselves some foot soldiers in half an hour. Get yourself presentable."

Jacob groaned again, running a hand through his brown hair, and noticed how greasy it had gotten lately. Charlie left without another word.

Jacob actually found a tiny shower next to the closet, and the chilly water woke him up the rest of the way. Still, it felt surprisingly good, and for a little while, he felt normal again.

The feeling faded away as Jacob came into the main room of the Hexagram, combing his damp hair out of his eyes with his fingers. The other four were there already, morphed but helmetless. Heather's mouth twitched upwards in a small smile, and Jacob returned it.

"Unleash the monster within!" He cried, morphing with a negative flash. As he removed his helmet, the Alchemist appeared on one wall.

"Ah, I see that Chan has deigned to grace us with his presence, good. Your task is simple, Rangers. Take these Toxipods," he said, gesturing as Fischer entered, carrying a handful of black, shiny pods the size of a small fist. Jacob took the two he was handed, and they stuck to his skin just a little. "You throw them at people, and they do the rest. Capture as many as you can before the Power Rangers arrive; we'll be able to teleport all the ones who've been converted. This should help with the numbers issue for the moment. Your target is Angel Grove. Get started."

"Back into action!" Charlie said, and they all put their helmets back on. Fischer teleported them out with the push of a button, and they materialized in the park of Angel Grove. The only people there were on their way to work, and the screaming began almost immediately.

Spinning around, Layla threw a Toxipod at a passing suited man, who fell as it struck him in the back. The pod exploded, and black ooze flowed all over his body, hardening as it spread. Within seconds, he was completely covered. Where his eyes had been were wide, insectlike eyes, and his hands were webbed and clawed. Shakily, the new Toxicite stood, and let out an inhuman shriek, showing off a mouthful of white fangs.

Charlie started throwing as well, though Jacob noticed how he tended to just barely miss the panicking citizens. Joe looked around in bewilderment, until Layla reminded him what they were supposed to be doing. Guiltily, he started throwing. Hefting a Toxipod, Jacob threw it at a woman in a business suit, and it bounced off her shoulder. The pod burst anyway, and she had time to scream for help before it took over. Transformed, she sprang to her feet and tackled another citizen, and the oozing stuff spread to him.

Then the wind rose, and Jacob looked up to see the same two Stellar Zords that had come the last time descend, landing directly before and behind the evil Rangers. Hissing, the Toxicites sprang back. The untransformed people cheered wildly, squeezing between the Zords to escape the Toxicites.

"Line up," Charlie said to his team, and they did. "Let the Toxicites tire them out first—it'll be a good test of their strength." Unmorphed, the Stellar Rangers appeared through the trees. The Toxicites charged, some running, others leaping through the trees to drop down on the Rangers. Only two were not snared in the Toxicites' ooze. The Pink Ranger darted out of the way at super speed, and began harrying the Toxicites, herding them away from the others as the Green Ranger shook off the ooze—it wouldn't stick to him—and began cutting the others free.

Stellar Red ripped the ooze apart and joined the Pink Ranger in keeping the Toxicites busy. Then the others were out and fighting fiercely. The grass burned away in a flash or froze and shattered beneath their feet. The Toxicites were teleported away as they fell. Adrenaline began coursing through Jacob's body, and his hands itched for his trident.

"Morph," Layla snapped to them. "Stop toying with us."

"A Kiwi? Anyway, I was hoping you'd say that," Rex said, punching out the last few Toxicites between him and the evil Rangers. The seven stopped where they were.

"Medieval Planets, descend!" They shouted, raising their fists and morphing with a blast of smoke. As they each announced their title, a fireball exploded behind them, blackening the nearby trees and burning away their leaves.

"King of the Planets! Red Jupiter Ranger!"

"Morning and Evening Star! Orange Venus Ranger!"

"Ruler of the Night Sky! Blue Luna Ranger!"

"Swiftest of the Planets! Pink Mercury Ranger!"

"Heavenly Lord of War! Green Mars Ranger!"

"Greatest Celestial Light! Yellow Sol Ranger!"

"Ancient and Farthest Sphere! Black Saturn Ranger!"

It dawned on Jacob that the five Monster Rangers were sort of outnumbered. He suppressed a shudder, and dropped into a fighting stance along with his teammates. The remaining Toxicites struggled to their side, which only made Jacob feel a little better. He focused on his opposite, and as the seven began to charge, so did they, yelling.

Stellar Black came closer and closer, and Jacob raised his fists for the first blow. The two sides clashed at the edge of the sidewalk, and then nothing else existed but the battle. Sunlight flashed off helmets and suits, smoke wreathed the fighters, and the Stellar Rangers' powers exploded colorfully throughout the insanity. It was shaping up to be a hot, humid day, and the heat from the fires made it worse. The only sounds were shouts and thumps, and Jacob's harsh breathing, echoing inside his helmet.

He swung at the other Black Ranger, who caught Jacob's arm and pinned it beneath his own. Jacob spun around and kicked him in the back, following it up with a blow to the side of the neck, and the other dropped to his knees. Then his opponent flipped around, dove under Jacob's arm and tangled his legs up, felling the Black Monster Ranger.

As he broke his fall, Jacob glimpsed Layla's meteor hammer swing over his head, streaking flames after it. He managed to kick his rising opponent in the gut, and flipped himself upright as the Black Ranger staggered back. Any desire or even need to hold back faded in the heat of battle. Jacob stabbed and struck at Stellar Black, who deflected nearly half of the blows with his sickle. Sparks flew, and Jacob began to slow down as the smoke grew too thick to see what he was hitting, but he could feel the haft of his trident striking home. Exhilarated, Jacob realized he and his teammates were forcing the Stellar Rangers back. The Orange Ranger yelled something that Jacob couldn't quite make out.

Staggering back, Jacob glanced around at the rest of his team, just as a pink streak shot past him, and Heather stumbled. Her opponent seized the moment and punched her in the face with a green-glowing fist. She was flung back into a sturdy oak tree with a loud crack, and slid down to the scorched earth limply. For Jacob, at least, the entire park went silent.

Jacob ducked a blow from the Black Stellar Ranger just in time, roundhouse-kicked him in the head, and instinctively flipped over towards Heather's side. As she demorphed, Jacob quickly felt along her back for anything that might mean a broken spine, but found nothing. The back of her head was sticky with dark blood. Now the noise came back, and Jacob cringed as a nearby tree was blasted into splinters. He saw the Green Ranger helping Stellar Black up, but didn't register it.

"Heather! Heather, can you hear me?" He called, trying to be heard above the continued explosions and sounds of battle. Then she disappeared with a green flash, and Jacob realized that both his and Heather's opposites were coming. Taking a deep breath, he leaped to his feet and faced them. The fighting was dying down, with all of the Toxicites out of commission. The two looked taken aback, and Jacob realized how odd his actions would have looked. Wryly, he wondered what was going through their minds. Remembering his planned obsession, Jacob charged his opposite.

"Storm Trident!" Jacob cried, whirling the weapon as it appeared. The other Ranger didn't move, and Jacob was nearly on him when he leaped aside. Then the point of the Green Ranger's lance stabbed into Jacob's back, and he fell flat on his stomach. His scream of pain was muffled by a huge, hot explosion.

Blurrily, Jacob looked up. He glimpsed the sunlight gleaming off the Zords, and several small black things that might have been phones held up by the people watching outside it. It felt as if his ribs had caved in where he'd been stabbed, and the wound itself throbbed so strongly that it took his breath away. The smoke stung his eyes, and he coughed convulsively.

Then, mercifully, he was back in the Hexagram. The shadowy figure of Fischer hovered over him, Jacob felt a tiny prick just below his left shoulder blade, and then a wonderful coolness spread across his back. As he lost consciousness, Jacob thought he heard Heather say his name.

~oMo~

Jacob woke up, and wondered why he was lying on his stomach. Then he remembered the fight, and reached back to feel the place where he'd been stabbed. He was a little stiff, but the wound itself didn't hurt at all. But as he touched the spot, his hand met a layer of scales. He felt around, and found that the scales simply faded into his skin at the edges of the wound.

As he sat up, Jacob remembered what Fischer had said after the first battle—the formula would make him more monster-ish to cure his injuries. Jacob felt the spot he'd been stabbed during that early fight, and found more scales. Letting out a long breath, he lay back down on his side, just as Heather walked in.

"Heather!" He sat up quickly.

"Layla was going to barge in and demand to know why you stopped fighting even though you knew I would be teleported out immediately," Heather said, with a wry smile. "I offered to ask instead."

"Thanks, I do that a lot," Jacob admitted, "Forgetting all about a fight to go rescue somebody—besides, I wanted to make sure you hadn't been killed outright. Fischer can't cure that."

"That wouldn't have done any good, but thanks for thinking of me," Heather said, and then grinned. "Next time, try to keep your mind on the enemy Rangers, why don't you?"

"I'll try, if you promise not to get injured that badly again," Jacob said.

"Deal," Heather laughed, but paused when she saw that he wasn't joking.

"Seriously, don't scare me like that," Jacob said. Heather paused, her hand on the doorknob, and looked more carefully at Jacob. "Don't act so surprised," he continued. "One: we're in the same boat. Two: green suits you more than you think." Jacob halted and wondered if he'd gone too far too quickly. Heather flushed dark green. Then she stepped forward and kissed Jacob on the mouth.

Almost before Jacob had realized what had happened, Heather was gone, the door sliding shut after her. Unable to stop grinning, Jacob leaned back and tried to find a comfortable spot on the barely padded bed. He'd helped the good guys win a fight _and_ gotten the girl, from the looks of it. Not a bad day.

~oMo~

Trivia: The Toxicites are actually a remnant from an older fic I never wrote, whose bones are scattered among my current ideas. They're visually based off of Spiderman's Venom.


	7. Chapter 7: Sparring

Disclaimer: Power Rangers is not mine.

~oMo~

Jacob finally woke up on his own, just minutes before a knock on his door. As he zipped up his jumpsuit, he heard her crisp gait coming down the hallway, and stepped to the door with a wide grin. He was still sore from being pushed out of bed yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. At least, he thought of them as days, though it was difficult to tell time in the Hexagram with no daylight and no clocks.

Layla stood there, looking surprised—and if not really pleased, satisfied—to see Jacob already up when the door slid open. Her hair had been unbraided, and was tied in a tight, crinkly bun high on her head, but other than that she looked the same as always. Pretty in a slightly scary, Amazon warrior way.

"Good," she said, looking Jacob up and down before turning on her heel. Jacob followed, not needing to be told that it was breakfast. The table and stools—they collapsed into the floor of the training room—were already up as Jacob arrived.

Every single meal was exactly the same—several chunks of whitish, fishy meat and a clump of leafy seaweed—but today, Joe was not present. Heather met Jacob's gaze with a shrug, and both Charlie and Layla avoided it.

"The schedule stays the same," Layla said, scraping all the crumbs together on her plate with her fork. "Sparring in half an hour. Jacob, try to stop evening up the fights, will you?"

"Hey, old habits die hard," Jacob replied.

"Don't make excuses," Layla said, standing and walking to the weapons shelf.

"_What _is your problem?" Jacob exclaimed, following her. Only when Layla spun around did he realize that she might not take that sentence very well. Deliberately, the Yellow Ranger walked up to Jacob.

"First," she said, poking him in the chest, "it isn't my problem, it's yours. You don't seem to realize that we're Power Rangers now. We have to be the best of the best, which means practice. Second, we do not play fair because we cannot afford to. The Stellar Rangers outnumber us by two members, which as you already know is a lot more dangerous than it sounds."

"I always thought we were supposed to fight dirty because, you know, evil Rangers?" Jacob shoved her hand away.

"Rangers are Rangers are Rangers."

"Ah, no! Power Rangers defend the Earth and its people. We've been trashing the planet and turning them into footsoldiers. We. Are. Evil!" Layla punched him in the gut. As Jacob doubled over, she grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the floor.

"Change of schedule. Sparring practice starts now."

"Fair enough," Heather said, and tackled Layla. The two girls rolled away, and Fischer—nobody ever saw him come or go, he was just there when needed—pushed the button for the table to retract into the floor. Layla managed to throw Heather into a wall, and Jacob snatched up their empty plates and started throwing them at the Yellow Ranger. One clipped her on the head, another her shin, but she deflected the rest. Heather leaped to her feet, but Charlie stepped between her and Layla and began hand-to-hand combat.

Jacob charged, leaping into a kick that was aimed for Layla's chest, but she moved at the last minute and he hit her shoulder. She yelled, falling back into Charlie, and they fell in a heap. The thunk as Charlie hit his head on the wall made Jacob wince. Springing back up, the Yellow Ranger swung Heather around to slam into Jacob as he landed, knocking them both over. Then, favoring her injured shoulder, Layla put a foot on both their necks, and looked down at them.

"We are—"

Layla knocked Heather aside with an axe kick, straddled Jacob, and punched him in the face.

"—supposed—"

Another blow made him see stars.

"—to be—"

The third punch split his lip.

"—a **_team!"_**

The fourth one felt like it knocked some molars loose. Layla's hair clung to her neck and face, which glittered with sweat. "Try acting like it."

Jacob managed to knee Layla in the back, and she somersaulted off his chest, landing in a low crouch.

"Even if we're an evil team?" He asked, springing up and aiming a punch at Layla.

"We aren't. These jobs the Alchemist is having us do are temporary." Layla caught his fist and twisting his wrist back. "We'll get to more 'normal' Ranger behavior once Stellar Corps is gone."

"But why are we destroying Stellar Corps?" Charlie shook his head at the Blue Ranger, but Jacob ignored him.

"Do you ever stop asking questions?" Layla asked, staring at Jacob in disbelief. She let go and somersaulted onto the floor.

Gasping, Heather sat up, and squinted at Charlie through her rapidly darkening black eye. She rolled him over on his back, and he moaned. He wasn't seriously hurt, so she shrugged and got up.

"Hey, where's Joe?" Jacob asked. Rolling her sore shoulder around, Layla looked around the room.

"I'll get him," Charlie said, pushing himself up with a grunt.

~oMo~

It took a good fifteen minutes for the first Stellar Rangers to arrive. Most of the citizens had the sense to stay away from the warehouse district as soon as the evil Rangers arrived, but a few stragglers hid among the rubble. When no one was looking, Jacob pulled a ceiling beam off a trapped man, and looked the other way as he ran to safety. As the Wolf and Bear Zords dropped out of the sky, Charlie paused next to his half-smashed warehouse.

"Wait, only two?" He asked.

"Sabotage, remember?" Heather said. "Those were the only two we didn't get to."

"Right, of course!" Raising his crossbow, he fired a volley of red laser quarrels at the oncoming Zords, hitting the Bear in the eye. A second shot grazed the Wolf's foreleg just before the Green Ranger remembered to shield it. Heather joined in with two carefully-aimed dagger throws, but the Wolf Zord caught one in his mouth and spat it back at her, gashing her arm.

As Joe moved in, sword raised, the Bear opened its mouth and shot a wave of ice at him, freezing his arms. With a growl, he shattered the ice and brought his saber down, but the blow bounced off the Bear Zord's shoulder.

Jacob went to help Heather with the Wolf Zord, but his Storm Trident bounced off its shield every time, once hitting him in the elbow. Slowly, the Green Stellar Ranger began to tire, and Jacob and Heather began to get some hits in. Then, at last, the Wolf Zord fell over. Quickly, Jacob and Heather picked it up—it must have weighed a ton. It struggled feebly as they heaved it into a skyscraper. The explosion was satisfying, sending bits of debris clinking off the Monster Rangers' armor in the burst of hot wind.

Before they could react, a volley of red lasers slammed into Heather from above. As she stumbled, Jacob steadied her with a quick grab, and a red jet zoomed into the open.

"New Zords?" Charlie said, twirling his mace. As the jet came down, it unfolded and transformed into a humanoid Zord, red and carrying a large, double-barreled rifle over its shoulder. _A battlizer?_ Jacob wondered. It only stood up to the Monster Rangers' chests, and with a contemptuous laugh, Charlie swung his mace. But the new Zord was no longer there.

A second volley of red lasers peppered the Red Monster Ranger as the new Stellar Zord leaped over his head, swinging around and landing on a building roof so as to not stop firing for a second. Charlie staggered, sparking and smoking from dozens of wounds, and then fell with a massive explosion.

With a sinking, icy feeling, Jacob watched as three more small Zords descended, blue, yellow and pink. He took a deep breath, and began twirling his trident. Good: the good guys were going to win this fight. Bad: it was going to be painful. He saw the other Yellow Ranger slam into Layla with a blinding golden flash, and winced. It was going to be _very_ painful.

Jacob stabbed at the Blue Ranger, but the tips of his trident clanged off one of the new Zord's bulky arm-mounted shields, and with a flick of the arm, the Stellar Ranger pinned the weapon under his arm. He yanked it out of Jacob's grasp and threw it aside with a deep clang.

"You guys really ought to plan your attacks before starting," the Blue Stellar Ranger said. "Positron Cannon!"

"Right there with you—Beam Claws!" The Pink Ranger added, and sending her Zord into a spin, slashed up Joe's chest. The Blue Ranger fired an energy ball from a huge gun in his Zord's chest, slamming Joe into the ruins of a warehouse. Jacob could feel the heat of the blast from where he stood.

Then Jacob was snapped out of his dumbfounded stare by the Wolf Zord tackling Heather. As Jacob spun around, he heard a rush of wind, then a red-hot blade slashed across his back. Before he could react, the red blur had already cut him across the chest and was coming around again. The blows continued, hard and fast, with only enough time between each blow for Jacob to realize he'd been hit. Then it stopped.

Jacob wavered, and fell to his knees. Dizzy with pain, he realized that he was smoking, and toppled. There was a flash of light and heat, and he was small again and falling onto the street.

The landing jolted every bone in Jacob's body, and he distinctly heard several crack. Fortunately, it didn't take long for Fischer to teleport him out. As he lost his morph, Jacob glimpsed his teammates all lying on the floor as their injuries healed. Fischer rolled him over onto his back and started injecting the monster formula into a neck artery.

"Aha," Jacob heard himself say, in a vague, slightly concussed voice, "we've been pwned." Then he fainted.

~oMo~

Trivia: Layla is the only Ranger whose full name I made up. Also her revised punching dialogue comes from Flaming Man of Iron.


	8. Chapter 8: Ghosts of the Angels

Disclaimer: Don't own Power Rangers or Doctor Who.

~oMo~

Jacob was up at midnight, practicing with his Storm Trident in the main room. At least, he thought it was midnight, by the eerie, smothering silence and the fact that the rest of his teammates were asleep. They had all been sleeping more since the last battle with Stellar Corps.

Jacob paused, panting, and tried to remember the new routine Layla had shown him. It started with the Trident in front of him, held with both hands. He started spinning it. Layla had always been pushing everyone to become an expert at their weapons, morphed or not, but especially since Stellar Corps's new Zords had appeared. Stab, parry, chest-height block. And truthfully, they had been improving. Well, Joe tended to be absent. Drop to one knee and leg sweep, vault over the nonexistent enemy and stab.

As Jacob finally finished, leaning on the trident and trying to regain his breath, he realized someone else was there. It was Joe, sitting in the corner and staring at nothing. Setting aside his trident, Jacob walked over to the Blue Ranger.

"Joe, are you okay?" Joe didn't move. Coming nearer, Jacob noticed that Monster Blue was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, though the fangs made that easier. "Joe?"

"Leave me alone!" Joe cried, leaping to his feet, still staring at the wall. "You're dead! You can't be real!"

"Joe…who are you talking to?" Jacob put a hand on the other boy's shoulder awkwardly. He started, and looked around the room with bloodshot eyes. Sweat gleamed on his unnaturally white face, and his hands shook as he pushed his hair out of his eyes.

"You can't see it, can you? Nobody can see it but me. Why can't they leave me alone?" Joe's voice slid higher and louder as he spoke, until he was screaming. He clutched convulsively at Jacob's arms. "I felt all of them die! I'd know if they were alive, but there he is, always following me! And he never—stops—talking! Why is this happening to me? Ever since that night…" he shuddered. "_She_ scares them away, but she goes away a lot. They only shut up if I'm fighting—they like it when I destroy things, say it makes them stronger. It's standing in the corner right now. _Why—can't—you—see—it_?"

"Joe, calm down," Jacob said, "you're babbling. There's nobody in here but you and me, okay?" Joe let go of Jacob's arms and began backing away, and a calculating look crossed his face.

"You all say the same thing. You're on their side, aren't you? I'm not going to let them take me again, you hear? You too—shut up! Stop laughing at me!" Bumping into the wall, Joe dropped to his knees, clutching his head. Then he let out a horrible sound, like a cross between an eagle's shriek and metal tearing.

Jacob was torn between morphing on the spot and yelling for the others. Before he could decide, Joe slammed into him, knocking him flat on his back. Icy fingers felt for his throat, but he grabbed Joe's wrists and forced his hands back. Joe responded by biting Jacob's hands, a lot. With a yell, Jacob threw him against the wall, but Joe leaped on him again.

Then Charlie, Layla and Heather were there, each of the girls seizing one of Joe's arms and pulling him away. He struggled, clawing and snapping at them, but Charlie delivered a sound right cross and Joe fell back, stunned. Jacob waited for the fireworks to stop exploding behind his eyes before he sat up.

"What on _earth _is wrong with him?" Jacob demanded, looking at his bleeding hands. The bites looked superficial, but still throbbed.

"He's been having these fits since we blasted the Angels," Charlie said, straightening his shirt. Now that Jacob was paying attention, he saw the teeth marks on the Red Ranger's arms. "He keeps seeing a Weeping Angel following him around, and if we aren't in the middle of a battle he argues with it for a while, and then he screams like that and gets violent. It'll pass soon." Sure enough, Joe's struggles were fading, and he went limp in the girls' arms. Heather and Layla set him down against the wall, and Joe curled up in the fetal position and started to cry quietly.

"Hey, they won't bother you for a bit now, will they?" Charlie said, giving Joe a slap on the shoulder. The Blue Ranger swiped at his already-blackening eye, which along with the tear streaks, completed the picture of a nervous breakdown in progress. Heather ran back to her room and returned with some strips of black fabric from a ruined jumpsuit, and began bandaging Jacob's hands.

"He said something about a 'she,' too," Jacob said. Charlie glanced over at Joe, who was biting his knuckles and staring at a spot on the floor.

"Yeah, there's this Australian woman who used to babysit him when he was little or something. She scares the Weeping Angels away, sometimes," Charlie said.

"The ghosts of the Angels," Joe corrected.

"What?" Heather said, pausing with one bandage half-knotted. Layla got up and went to the wall, where she typed in a few numbers and brought out a drawer. Taking out a syringe of green liquid, she rolled up Joe's sleeve and began injecting it into his arm just above the elbow.

"Th-they're not full Angels," Joe said, staring at his feet. "The real ones were a-all destroyed, but some got into my head w-when we…" he trailed off. Layla finished and put the syringe away.

"Everyone go back to bed," she said, pushing the drawer shut with a snap. "Immediately."

~oMo~

"Rangers." It was the Alchemist. The five, who had been resting from sparring practice, stood and faced the screen. "Stellar Corps has gained some vital information, which they might use to attack us, and I need time to work on our big plan. Go out and cause some minor mischief. Nothing important, just keep Stellar Corps on their toes." Then he blinked out. The Monster Rangers exchanged bewildered looks.

"What's 'minor mischief' supposed to mean?" Joe asked. "Rob a candy store? Blow up a car?"

"Are any of you curious what the rest of the world thinks happened to us?" Charlie asked. "We've probably been 'buried' by now." Jacob met his eye, and understood. Leave some clues for Stellar Corps about themselves.

"Sounds morbid enough. Throw in a little random destruction and I think we've got a plan," Jacob said. The others seemed to like the idea, from their quiet noises of agreement. Fischer—who was standing by the wall again—spoke up.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked.

"Whose grave is the closest?" Heather asked. "We can work our way outwards."

"Joe would be, if he weren't still believed missing," Fischer said, doing a little typing. "As it is, Jacob's is nearest," he said.

"I'll go attack Angel Grove," Layla said.

"I'm coming with you," Joe added. The swelling on his eye had gotten worse, and the bruise was dark purple.

"Fine," Layla said. Jacob shrugged, and unclipped his morpher from his belt. Crossing their arms over their chests, the five lined up.

"Unleash the monster within!" They shouted, holding out the morphers at arm's length with both hands. Jacob's vision turned black, and the familiar pulsing-with-energy sensation that accompanied morphing was interrupted by the weirdly light feeling of teleportation.

Jacob blinked away the bright blue dots to see a sunny, mowed graveyard. The three Monster Rangers were standing under a tall oak tree, and there was no one around. Quietly, the Rangers began looking for Jacob's headstone.

The only sounds were the wind and their footsteps in the grass. Jacob, running a hand along the tops of the gravestones, finally began to wonder what his apparent death had done to his father. Mr. Anderson had always been afraid for his safety, and although he'd never objected to Jacob becoming a Junior Police Officer, Jacob could see the worry on his face whenever he was called to help with anything more major than a traffic ticket. He wondered who'd had to tell his father that he'd been killed.

"Here," Heather called, and the Rangers gathered. The stone was perfectly square and dark grey, and there was a bundle of blue carnations lying in front of it. Jacob knelt on one knee, and read his own gravestone with a feeling of extreme morbidity.

Jacob Anderson

Beloved Son, Heroic Officer of the Peace

1990-2011

"Okay," Jacob said, rising and dusting bits of grass off his pants. "Here's my bit of destruction. Storm Trident!" Twirling the weapon, Jacob set one point carefully against the stone, and drew a deep gash through the end date. The scrape set his teeth on edge. As he stepped back, Jacob realized that between Stellar Corps and the possibility of the Alchemist finding out about his duplicity, the stone's dates might become accurate. The trio gathered back together, and Charlie pulled off his morpher and spoke into it.

"Ready for the next one, Fischer."

There was a flash, and the Monster Rangers were in an overcast field edged by trees. Jacob could hear and smell the sea, somewhere off to the left. A layer of fog hung over the place, and water began condensing on the Rangers' helmets almost immediately. Now visibly tense, Charlie glanced around.

"Blue Bay Harbor," he said for the benefit of the others, and started looking around. This time, Jacob found the stone first, waving the others over. He realized that he hadn't actually known Charlie's last name was Hammond until then. Charlie was more interested in the one beside it, though, labeled Melissa Hammond. He took off his helmet, and ran a hand down the letters. Jacob looked at the dates, did some quick math, and asked, "Your Mom?"

Charlie nodded. "She was in the car, too, when I crashed," he said. "That's why I wanted to come here. I was dying, so I don't trust my memory, and I needed to know." Heather and Jacob exchanged a look, and simultaneously decided to go blast some trees on the other side of the field.

The pines went over easily, sending up showers of sparks. The eye-watering smoke and acrid scent of green wood added to the unsettled feeling stirring in Jacob's gut. This entire situation was wrong. Evil Rangers were supposed to be monsters, or good people under an evil spell. They didn't have long, dull stretches between battles; they disappeared into a dark dimension when they weren't needed. They didn't have grieving families—or dead families to grieve for.

Lost in thought, Jacob jumped as they teleported to Mariner Bay. It was a bright, partly cloudy day here, much like Stone Canyon had been. However, as the three started looking for Heather's tombstone, Jacob noticed signs that a monster battle had happened in the place—cracked and charred stones, blackened patches of earth—some time ago. There were actually people here, who took one look at the evil Rangers and ran screaming.

Jacob and Charlie exchanged a glance and started after the six civilians, Charlie drawing his mace. The two fired shots in their prey's rough direction, close enough to scare but not enough to hurt, shattering several large monuments as they did. They had been shaped almost like giant chesspieces. Jacob suddenly remembered playing hide-and-seek in a graveyard like this: that kind of stone was always a perfect hiding place.

Another explosion snapped Jacob out of the memory. Vaulting over a wall, he wondered if the Lightspeed Rangers were still active, and if they'd show up. Hopefully not. He'd seen them fight, and they were professionals.

The two boys walked back to Heather, who stood in a far corner of the graveyard with her arms folded. She was looking down at her headstone and laughing bitterly. As the two joined, her, she gestured with a dagger at the reddish stone. There was a Lightspeed Rescue sigil carved under her name.

"I don't think you meant for this Junior Ranger to graduate the way she did," she said. Flipping her dagger, she took aim and threw. The silver-and-green weapon quivered dead-center in the sigil. A little rock dust trickled into the grass as Heather drew the blade out, and sent it back to its shelf in the Hexagram with a flick.

"Let's go blow something up, draw out Stellar Corps," Heather said, and started for the gate. With a shake of his head, Charlie followed, Jacob bringing up the rear and only half-aware what they were doing now. If everything went as planned, the Rangers would notice at least one of their visits and connect some dots.

~oMo~

Trivia: The episode Joe appeared in is Zeo's For Cryin Out Loud. For a school project, Kat and Tommy had to pretend to be married for a week, and Kat brought in one of her babysitting jobs to make it more realistic. Mondo promptly created a monster who could turn Joe's cries into sonic screams.


	9. Chapter 9: Invasion

Disclaimer: Don't own Power Rangers or Doctor Who.

~oMo~

When the Alchemist, in the non-holographic flesh, walked into the hub of the Hexagram, the Monster Rangers were taken completely by surprise. Layla and Charlie, who had been sparring, stopped up short. Jacob, Heather and Joe leaped to their feet—but Jacob missed his footing and nearly fell over, prompting a nervous giggle from Heather.

"My sources have told me that the Stellar Rangers are planning to invade the Hexagram," the Alchemist said, as Jacob scrambled to his feet. "You will go to the main computer room one floor down and hide yourselves near the elevators. When I sound the alarm, attack. Until I give the order, do not make a sound. I want the Black Stellar Ranger alive—but don't worry about being gentle; we can always revive him with the formula if necessary. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Charlie said for the team. The Alchemist smiled at him—Jacob tried to suppress a shudder at the still-disconcerting expression—and walked back out.

"Let's go, then," Heather said. "Unleash the monster within!"

_Lying under a sheet on a table, Heather is struck repeatedly by lightning bolts. She stands up, the sheet and her skin glowing green-white. The light thickens and solidifies into her Ranger suit, green and shot through with black lightning bolts. Her cape blows in the wind as she drops into a fighting stance._

_Charlie springs out of a coffin in an underground crypt, and his long red-and-black cape wraps around him before melting into his Red Ranger suit. The black lightning bolts across his shoulders and chest gleam as he strikes a pose._

_Inside a pyramid, Layla floats out of a sarcophagus, and bandages wind around her limbs, covering her entire body. They smooth out and become her Yellow Ranger uniform. The torchlight catches her black sleeves and pants as she poses._

_Joe stands under a full moon in the woods. Fur sprouts through his skin and clothes, runs together and becomes his Blue Ranger suit. The fanged helmet closes over his face, and he takes a fighting stance._

_Jacob dives into deep, black water. As the air rushes past him in bubbles, his skin turns into scales, which thicken and solidify into a Black Ranger uniform. He shoots up out of the water and lands on one knee._

Jacob, Heather and Layla rode down one elevator, Charlie and Joe the other. Rubbing his sweating palms on his pants, Jacob wondered where Fischer was. Heather reached over and gave his hand a quick squeeze. This prompted an exasperated sigh from Layla, which both ignored.

Quietly, Jacob squeezed behind a dusty computer panel, Heather crawled under a desk, and Layla magically vanished into an alcove. Charlie's eyes glinted red across the room, even through his darkened visor. Everyone winced at the clang as Joe accidentally kicked over a chunk of metal. Then, they waited.

It felt like hours. Jacob's left leg began to cramp, but he didn't dare shift position. His breathing echoed inside his helmet, and he could hear his heart pounding as though something exciting were actually happening. It was very, very dark. Only a few computers were on, blinking and blipping away to themselves.

Then the far door slid open, and Fischer shuffled in, with the Black, Red and Blue Stellar Rangers following him. Jacob watched in frozen disbelief as the hunchback typed a code into a wall-mounted keypad. The Red Ranger said something, but Jacob was too far away to discern what. The panel slid back and up, and Fischer reached behind it, pushing a second button. There was a violet flash, and then he took out a bundle of papers and a laptop. Jacob clenched his fists, wishing there was a way to alert them without getting everyone captured on the spot.

"You know, when I saw the video of you giving away our coordinates to the Yellow Ranger, Fischer, I knew you were a traitor, but never thought you'd be this brazen." Jacob jumped, even though he'd known it was coming, as the Alchemist stepped out of the shadows. His arms were folded, and he wore a feral grin. The Stellar Rangers dropped into fighting stances. "Surely you aren't such a fool as to think I _wouldn't notice_ you cutting holes in my roof?"

"The idea was efficiency, not subtlety," the Black Stellar Ranger replied.

"Can't argue with that, I suppose. Attack!" The five Monster Rangers leaped out from their hiding places. The Red Ranger punched Joe across the room, and went after his evil opposite. His companions dumped their recovered technology in a corner before joining the fight.

Heather and the Black Ranger clashed by the safe, and Jacob saw Charlie fall back at a blow from the other Red Ranger. Jacob stabbed at Stellar Blue with his Storm Trident, but he had already ducked aside. A boot landed in Jacob's mid-back with the force of a concrete block, and he dropped to his knees, eyesight blurring with pain.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jacob saw Charlie attack Stellar Blue. Then Fischer grabbed Charlie, and as Jacob scrambled up again, the hunchback disarmed him. As Jacob struck at the Blue Ranger, Joe seized Fischer from behind.

Behind Jacob, the door burst open, and the Pink, Green and Yellow Stellar Rangers joined the fray. As Jacob raised his trident, he heard a grunt, and looked over his shoulder. Joe was just drawing his sword out of Fischer's back. Horrified, Jacob stared as the hunchback slumped to the floor. Then Toxicites sprang up everywhere, blocking Jacob's view of his quasi-mentor.

Whirling his nunchuks, the Blue Stellar Ranger whacked Jacob's wrist so he dropped his trident. The other Ranger followed it up with a blow to the jaw that jarred all of Jacob's teeth. As he crumpled, seeing stars, his opposite moved away to battle the Toxicites. Briefly, he glimpsed the Pink Ranger carrying Fischer out, and felt relieved for a moment.

Then Toxicite feet slammed into him, kicking Jacob around the room like a soccer ball. It was too much for him to even try to get up. He glimpsed the Green Stellar Ranger shielding his friends from the Toxicites' ooze. Struck by both the Black and Blue Stellar Rangers, Joe fell with a shower of sparks. Ooze splattered on Jacob's visor, blinding him just as Heather was knocked to her knees by Stellar Yellow. Then a Toxicite leg slammed into Jacob's gut, and he doubled over.

As Jacob crawled towards a corner, shoved around and ducking blasts of energy, fire and ice, he glimpsed Layla and the Red Ranger dueling near the middle of the room. They were both really, really good, he could tell even through the chaos. Then, at last, he was out of the battle, and took a second to regain his breath. His entire body was one big, throbbing bruise. He tried to peel the ooze off his visor, but it stuck to everything it touched, stretching out like rubber as he tried to free his hand.

As he managed to drag the ooze off, Jacob saw Charlie hit the floor in one corner, and Heather slide down the opposite wall. Then a Toxicite carrying the stolen laptop and plans fell almost on Jacob, with the other Blue Ranger atop it. The furious Stellar Ranger ripped the technology out of the foot soldier's arms, and kicked it in the face.

Cautiously, Jacob re-summoned his Storm Trident, took a deep breath, and jumped back into the battle. His new plan was to try and get in the way of as many Toxicite blows as he could, while still making it look like an accident. He swung his Trident around his head, feeling it hit several Toxicites on the way. Stabbing, at Stellar Blue, Jacob let his momentum carry him over the ducking Ranger's head and impale a foot soldier.

Jacob's legs were flipped out from under him. As he dragged several Toxicites down, he saw Stellar Green slide away. A wave of ice froze several more foot soldiers, and the following blast of flame sent their fellows scampering away. Jacob struggled back up, only for the Green Ranger to step out of the crowd again. The solid kick made his ribs creak. Doubling over, Jacob felt a wave of fire shoot over his head and send a handful of Toxicites running.

The fight dragged on. Jacob glimpsed the Stellar Rangers fighting the Toxicites valiantly, with the Green Ranger keeping the Monster Rangers from joining in. Jacob did his best to take out as many Toxicites as he could before being knocked down, and saw Charlie doing the same. Then a blow hit his ribcage with a crack, and he decided to stop getting back up. Slowly but surely, though, the good Rangers were separated from each other and worn down.

Through the Toxicite legs, Jacob saw the blood-covered Pink Ranger return, only to be thrown into her Green teammate. They both fell down, and Layla knocked the Green Ranger senseless with a blow. Joe attacked the Blue Ranger, felling him only to be blasted across the room by his Yellow teammate. Then a passing Toxicite stumbled against Jacob's wounded ribs. He screamed voicelessly.

Then there was a blinding flash. As Jacob's vision cleared, he saw that Stellar Black had the Alchemist at sickle-point. Everyone stopped fighting, and watched the two helplessly. Jacob, finally not getting kicked to death, tried to breathe without aggravating his broken ribs. It wasn't easy.

"Call them off!" The Black Ranger yelled. Jacob heard a finger snap, and the Toxicites shrank back into black pods. Now Jacob could see Charlie lying on the other side of the room, looking as battered as Jacob felt. The Stellar Rangers helped their Green and Blue Rangers up. Heather bent over Jacob, who gave her a little thumbs-up. Sure, he hurt all over and had broken a few bones, but he wasn't unconscious or dying, which was pretty unusual by itself.

"Get out," The Black Ranger ordered.

"Not a chance," Stellar Red retorted, swiping ooze off his visor.

"We aren't leaving you here!" The Pink Ranger added hoarsely.

"I'm not sacrificing myself, but I need you all to be in your Zords before I let go of him. Now grab the plans." The Rangers exchanged glances. "Now!"

Stellar Corps collected the stolen technology without another word. Joe moved to attack, but Heather and Layla restrained him. The Stellar Rangers left, breaking into a run as they reached the hallway.

The Black Ranger backed towards the doorway, keeping his grip on the Alchemist. Jacob's teammates limped towards the two, at a safe distance. The entire Hexagram rumbled, and the Alchemist stepped back, _into_ the Black Ranger's body. As the Monster Rangers stared incredulously, the Black Ranger demorphed, briefly becoming a dark-haired man in his thirties, then turning into the Alchemist again.

"Heather, Joe, go after the others," the Alchemist said, straightening his lab coat. The two Rangers pushed past him and ran down the hallway. "The rest of you go upstairs and lick your wounds. I'll be up shortly."

With a groan, Jacob pushed himself onto his hands and knees, and began crawling for the elevator. He saw Layla pull Charlie up. As she passed, the Yellow Ranger caught Jacob's arm, pulling him up and to the elevator. She was stronger than she looked.

Once the elevator stopped moving, Jacob took a step off it, slumped against the wall with a groan, and slid down to a sitting position. He clutched his side, which throbbed with fire every time he breathed in. Layla set Charlie beside Jacob, and went to get the monster formula.

"Power down," Charlie managed, and rested his head against the wall, panting. Jacob followed suit.

"What now?" Jacob breathed, "No Fischer. Also, what?" Layla demorphed and leaned against the wall.

Charlie shook his head. "Keep trying. Maybe they saved him. I have no idea."

Layla injected herself, waited a minute for the formula to work, and went back to her teammates. The other elevator dropped, and brought up Heather and Joe. The two were dripping wet and unmorphed, but were strong enough to inject themselves.

This time, Jacob got to feel the monster formula work. It was hot, just on the border of burning, and he could feel it flowing through his veins. His weariness faded almost immediately. The pain in his ribs got worse and worse, and then it was gone. With his mind clear and alert, the day's events began to sink in.

Fischer was gone, possibly dead. If the Stellar Rangers had managed to save him, he'd be able to tell them about Jacob and Charlie's resistance, and they could help. If not…Jacob and Charlie were on their own. Maybe Heather would join them, maybe not. Also, what in the name of sanity had the Alchemist done to the Black Ranger? Had he possessed the man? Why?

At long last, the Alchemist came up in the elevator. Jacob stood up straight, hoping he didn't look as nervous as he felt. The Alchemist was grinning, which didn't make Jacob feel any better. He casually tossed the Black Ranger's Power Ring with one hand.

"Well done, Rangers. My plan has worked perfectly." The Rangers exchanged looks.

"You mean you never wanted the plans to the Power Rings?" Layla asked.

"That's what I mean, Yellow Ranger. I wanted bait, and the plans were convenient. The laptop, well, I always intended for the Rangers to get it back, though the video showing Fischer's betrayal was an added bonus. I'm glad he finished his final project before turning on us, though. Follow me upstairs, Rangers." The elevator went up, to the Monster Rangers' mild surprise. They all climbed onto the other elevator, and rode up through the ceiling.

The next room was entirely black, and looked to be the width of the entire disc. Their every noise was echoed in the shadows. There was only one light on, a greenish-white one above a desk. The Rangers recognized it as the place the Alchemist had always sent them messages from. The Alchemist stood there now, still grinning.

He pushed a button, and a light went on behind the group. They turned, and saw a metal chair, the back of which had lots of little blinking lights. There were cuffs on the arms and legs, and clamps to hold a person down by the shoulders and waist. Jacob shivered, sensing where this was going.

"You remember that your morphers are connected to your life forces, correct? If you were to die, your powers would be destroyed. However, this device can separate you from your powers. Fischer was never able to make the process safe, but since the only time I would ever use this chair would be if one of you betrayed me, that isn't an issue." The Alchemist stepped around his desk, and looked each of the Monster Rangers in the eye. He wasn't smiling anymore. Jacob met his gaze, and tried not to look guilty or frightened.

"I know some of you may have been, shall we say, reluctant to work for me. Don't get any bright ideas. Don't think that Fischer's escaped me—I already know that he's dead. If you cross me, I'll make you wish you'd gone as easily as he did. Understood?" The Alchemist looked to each Ranger, and they nodded in turn. Jacob felt a hand close over his, and glanced down at it. Heather. He squeezed it.

"Sir," Charlie said. The Alchemist looked at him. Jacob wondered how the Red Ranger could be so calm—though the fact that he was nearly an albino made any paleness easier to hide.

"What is it, Red Ranger?" He asked, grinning amiably at Charlie.

"When you captured the Black Ranger, you changed form. This isn't your real body, is it?"

The Alchemist laughed. "You're sharp, Red Ranger. No, this isn't my natural form. Would you like to know what I really am?"

"If you don't mind, sir."

"Mind? I'm flattered," the Alchemist said, and stepped back to his desk. He turned off the light over the chair. The villain looked happier than Jacob had ever seen him.

"You've been doing badly against Stellar Corps—but don't worry; I'm not going to punish you. I can see that you merely lack leadership, and as the Alchemist, I have been unable to give you that direction. First, I must tell you that the Alchemist, as you know him, does not actually exist." The wrinkles faded, and the Alchemist began to turn purple. As his lab coat turned into a long purple robe, he grinned at the staring Monster Rangers.

"My name is Ivan Ooze. I've been sharing this body with its original owner, the guy who gave you your powers—though most of our plans were my ideas."Then Ivan became the Black Stellar Ranger again. This time, he spoke with a distinctly British accent. "I am Marco Smith, formerly the Black Stellar Ranger. And don't worry, we'll explain everything."

~oMo~

Trivia: Originally, Ivan Ooze quoted his own introduction from the movie, but it didn't work out.

A/N: If anyone's reading this and not Stellar Corps, Fischer's actual death occurs over there. And Marco is speaking for me as well: all will be explained next week.


	10. Chapter 10: Ultraviolet

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, still!

~oMo~

Jacob stared, slack-jawed, at the man standing in front of him. The other Monster Rangers were equally bewildered, but Jacob noticed something else on Charlie's face. Horrified recognition? First the Alchemist walking_ into_ the Stellar Ranger, then the death threat, and now this insanity?

The Alchemist—Marco Smith or Ivan Ooze or both?—was talking again. "Ivan relies on me to live—if he separated from my body for too long, he would die. You haven't heard of him, I see. Understandable, his reign of terror occurred thousands of years before any of you were born. Allow me a moment to monologue, I promise I will be brief. Specifically, six thousand years ago, Zordon and one of his posses of teenagers trapped Ivan Ooze. Three thousand years later, he was freed by another creature called Master Org. They laid waste to the Earth, until the Galaxy Rangers threw him into a comet, and his remains ended up on the Cimmerian Planet. After three thousand more years, I finally showed up. By bonding with me, Ivan Ooze was able to fend off the Weeping Angels until me and my men were rescued, and we've helped each other since then." Marco looked at the expressions on all the Monster Rangers' faces, and laughed.

"Sir," Layla said, speaking slowly, "Why are you helping us? You're a Stellar Ranger—you _created_ the Stellar Rangers!" Marco nodded, smiling in approval.

"Good of you to notice, Yellow Ranger. However, I've talked enough, and from what Ivan's showed to me, monologuing is a bad habit for 'evil masterminds.'" Marco didn't actually use air quotes, but they were clearly audible in his tone. "Besides, I can see you have a lot to take in. I'll call you when I need you."

Marco gestured to the elevator. Slowly, the five went back to it, glancing from their transformed mentor to the now-hidden chair he'd threatened them with. The trip downstairs was grim and silent.

The Monster Rangers split off to their own quarters, and Jacob hesitated. Charlie brushed past him, and muttered "Meet in my room." Quietly, Jacob went to his own room, and waited for about five minutes. Then he went back and found Charlie.

The Red Ranger sat in a corner, head in his hands. He hadn't turned on any lights, but there was nothing for Jacob to trip over. The few furnishings Charlie had brought from his house sat on the nightstand in one lonely cluster.

"I thought something was wrong," Jacob said, sitting across from him. "Aside from, well, everything. What is it?"

Charlie took a deep breath, ran his hands through his brown hair, and looked up. "I know that guy—Ivan Ooze, at least." Charlie tucked his knees up to his chest. "The reason I didn't trust my memory of the crash was because he was there. He was standing in the middle of the road that night. I swerved to miss him and wrapped the car around a tree. My mom got thrown out of the car, and I think she was going for help when Ivan Ooze showed up again. Fischer was on his way to me, but I was trapped."

Charlie paused again, and squeezed his eyes shut briefly. "Ivan Ooze threw my mom off an embankment. I heard him laughing right before I passed out."

Jacob bit his lip. His mind blanked out; he couldn't think of anything at all to say. Charlie saw it on his face, and smiled very slightly.

"Hey, I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm just telling you in advance: sometime soon, I'm going to pay him back for that."

"Don't do anything crazy," Jacob warned.

Charlie laughed. "Only if someone'll die if I don't, I promise. Let's split before this gets suspicious. Go see Heather or something." With an embarrassed chuckle, Jacob got up.

~oMo~

It was very, very early in the morning when Marco called the Monster Rangers. An entire week had gone by without a single monster, and nobody had even seen the not-Alchemist. Most of the Monster Rangers hadn't reacted to the new threat, but Heather and Jacob got more jumpy. It was a distinct relief to get orders to go blow something up.

"Attack Mirinoi," Marco said. "I don't care where, just do it." The screen blacked out.

"Let's try somewhere uninhabited, just to shake things up," Charlie suggested. Layla frowned, as did Heather.

Jacob tried to back him up. "The Rangers will never expect it."

"That's because it makes no sense," Heather said.

"So they'll think we have some crazy plan, and go out of their minds trying to figure it out," Jacob said, completely off the top of his head. In the corner, Joe shrugged.

Shaking her head, Layla said, "all right. Let's morph."

~oMo~

The trip to the green jungle planet was silent. The five Zord-sized Monster Rangers landed in a sunlit patch of jungle, crushing trees as they came down. Bird exploded out of the trees, animals scampered away in every direction, and smoke from burning foliage made Jacob's eyes water even through his helmet.

Layla's meteor hammer punched into a burning tree, and it splintered and fell. Silently, Joe hacked apart a vine-snared trunk. Jacob glanced from the jungle to his trident, and wondered how he was supposed to do something with it. He started shoving around the trees the others felled, spreading them out to cover the muddy ground. Soon, the five had carved a wide clearing. In the sky, there was a rumble.

"Heroes are so predictable," Layla said, as the team gathered back-to-back and waited. In Warrior Mode, five Demi-Zords ringed them in.

"Okay, where's Marco?" The Red Ranger asked.

"Why on earth would we tell you?" Joe retorted.

"You guys do remember how this worked out last time, right?" The Blue Ranger asked.

"We totally mopped the floor with them!" The Yellow Ranger said, his voice gleeful, taking a step forward in his Zord.

"Not today." Charlie twirled his mace. Jacob tightened his grip on his Storm Trident, and watched the Typhoon Zord.

"We'll see," The other Red Ranger said, drawing a pair of huge sabers from the knees of his Zord and swinging them.

Layla stepped between Charlie and his opposite. "I'll take him."

"Again? Is this how you evil Ranger chicks say you like a guy?" The Stellar Ranger asked. With a little growl of annoyance, Layla charged, and the battle began.

Jacob glimpsed Heather throwing her daggers at her opposite, but they bounced off a shield he'd formed out of bits of his Demi-Zord. Layla and the Red Stellar Ranger were a blur. His attention came back to Stellar Blue, as he fired a few Positron blasts from the cannon in his Demi-Zord's chest. Whirling his trident, Jacob deflected them back at him, but the Typhoon Zord absorbed them into his shields. Then Joe backed into Jacob, throwing him off-balance, and a blue laser grazed his shoulder. It burned, and Jacob only just avoided the follow-up shot. Charlie was doing about as well against the Pride Zord.

The fight raged back and forth across the clearing. Wood groaned and split under the Zords' feet, thick smoke from still-green plants obscured most of the action, and the only noises were clangs, explosions and hi-yas. Jacob felt like he was high on adrenaline, though in Zord form that probably wasn't how it worked.

Then, a huge red blast momentarily blinded Jacob. He staggered back, blinking, and saw that Charlie was down. The Red Ranger returned to human form, and stirred feebly.

"Who says bigger is better?" The Yellow Stellar Ranger crowed. Turning back to his opponent, Jacob had one second to realize that Stellar Blue had both arms raised, his Triple Beam guns aimed at Jacob. He leaped forward, tackling the Demi-Zord to the forest floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Heather collapse with a second huge explosion.

The Typhoon Zord threw Jacob off and leaped into the air, peppering him with his Triple Beam guns. Jacob rolled out of the way, taking a lot of little fiery hits as he did. They stung, but didn't penetrate his hull.

The Pink Ranger was holding Joe down and saying something in a shrill voice. Then a streak of purple light struck the Dash Zord, and it jerked. Joe shrank and teleported out, along with Charlie and Heather. The Typhoon Zord paused, and Jacob regained his feet.

The Dash Zord toppled over on its side. The Pride Zord dashed over, and the light flickered again. Shakily, Jacob took advantage of his opponent's distraction to retrieve his dropped Storm Trident.

"Hey, what the—" The Yellow Ranger began, and his Zord was flung into a patch of still-standing trees. There was a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared, the Pride Zord didn't move. All of the other Rangers were distracted.

"Someone new is here?" James said. "Rangerium Lance!" The long, blue-and-silver weapon materialized in the Typhoon Zord's hand, and he swung it. Then Jacob threw an arm around the smaller Zord's neck, and drew back his Storm Trident. "Heads up, Rex!"

"Duly noted," the Red Ranger replied. He had the chain of the meteor hammer wound around his left arm, and was holding it taut as the Yellow Ranger tried to wrest it free. With his right hand, he deflected her kicks and punches. Then the sun flashed off something shiny behind Rex, and a massive spinning ring shot through the air. It sliced across the Bolt Zord's back, hit a tree, and the Yellow Ranger shoved Rex back into its path to take it on the chest. With the usual fireball, the Bolt Zord fell to its knees.

"Systems failing. Tony, shoot it or something!" Stellar Red ordered, as static devoured his signal. The Lagrange Zord drew its glock pistols and blasted the Yellow Monster Ranger out of the way. The ring—a chakram, was it?—appeared again. With a green flash, it bounced off Tony's quickly-gathered shield.

Jacob heard the Lagrange Zord behind him, and swung his opposite around as it fired. The first shot hit the Typhoon Zord, but the Green Ranger adjusted quickly and shot Jacob's trident out of his hand. Off to the side, Jacob saw a spinning ring slam into the Red Ranger's chest, then skid into the trees. Layla swung Stellar Red around into its returning path, and there was a huge explosion.

"James, duck," Tony said. Raising the glocks sideways, the Lagrange Zord turned a full circle, shooting the entire time. Down out of the sky dropped a brand-new Zord, landing in the clearing with a boom. It was a purple Monster Ranger, in Zord form. Tony leveled on him. Green lasers flashed against its hull, but nothing exploded or even sparked. The Zord ripped its sword free from Tony's grip, and reaching up, caught the chakram as it returned. Jacob stared. He felt James wriggle out of his grip, but didn't pay attention.

"Oh no," James said, as the Typhoon Zord climbed to its feet again. The weapon sank into the Typhoon Zord's back with a shower of sparks. The Demi-Zord staggered, and ripping out the trident, Jacob limped away.

"Seconded," Tony said. The new Monster Ranger threw the chakram, which cut through trees and zinged off boulders with flurries of sparks. Tony raised his shield again, but the ring bounced off and hit the Typhoon Zord in the side, which collapsed. T hen Jacob stabbed the Lagrange Zord in the chest. Wrapping her meteor hammer chain around the Demi-Zord's neck, the Yellow Ranger dragged it to the ground. Jacob whacked the Green Ranger with the haft of his trident a few more times, to make sure he was down, and turned to the new Ranger.

"James, duck," Stellar Green said. Raising the glocks, the Lagrange Zord turned a full circle, shooting the entire time. The Typhoon Zord did duck, pulling Jacob down with him. The lasers flew over their heads. In the green flashes, bits of the invisible Zord were revealed—it was smooth and white, built like the Monster Rangers' Zord forms—but nothing exploded or even sparked. Tony leveled on it, just as it turned visible, and It was a white-clad Monster Ranger, in Zord form and spinning the chakram on one finger.

"Well done. Power down to return to the Hexagram," the Purple Ranger—a familiar-sounding man—rumbled. Obediently, Layla and Jacob stepped back. The Yellow Ranger looked as battered as Jacob felt, her armor cracked and covered in mud and soot.

"Power Down!" They cried, and shrank with a crackle of energy. Abruptly, they were back in the Hexagram. The other three were still recovering, and the drawer of formula was wide open. For a second, Jacob wondered where Fischer was: then he remembered and shuddered.

The Purple Ranger teleported inside, and demorphed to reveal Marco. He was out of breath, and there was a strange gleam in his eye. Quietly, he injected Jacob's arm with the formula.

After both Jacob and Layla were fully recovered, Marco spoke. "I've decided that this is the best way to guide you—on the battlefield. These powers are what I've been working on for the last week, along with some upgrades for you. You've earned them."

He collected their morphers, and went to the wall. Five indentations appeared in the wall, and Marco set the morphers in them. Then he ran a finger along the wall beneath them, and they began flashing their own colors.

"This upgrade is called Revenge Mode, and you can access it as long as you're in contact with your morpher. Charles, you will be able to cling to walls. Jacob, you will be capable of breathing underwater. Layla, you will gain the ability to manipulate sand, as well as turn into it. Heather, you are now extremely strong. Joe, you can now turn into a wolf at will. My own power is a larger, stronger battle form. Practice with your abilities, and then we shall crush Stellar Corps," Marco said. His lip curled as he said "crush."

Jacob, with a sinking feeling, realized that Marco was going to be harder to get to than the others. Assuming he could be "gotten to" at all.

"Thank you, sir, and we shall," Charlie said, taking his morpher. The grin on his face looked genuine. The others followed suit. As soon as he touched his morpher, Jacob felt the difference. A sudden chill shot down his arms and through his body. They all turned back to Marco.

"Make me proud," Marco said.

~oMo~

Trivia: Charlie's is one of the few original backstories I'd invented for this team that remained through the original brainstorming. Probably the most entertaining one was pre-Jacob (Jeremy)'s: his lawyer parents investigated a gang who promptly tried to kidnap his kid brother. After a motorcycle chase, Jeremy hid his brother in a warehouse and ended up getting shot several times by the gang before Marco scared them away.


	11. Chapter 11: A Call Upstairs

Disclaimer: I own nothing, noth-ing! Well, I own Layla's name, and the last names of Charlie, Heather and Joe, but that isn't really important.

~oMo~

Charlie dropped off the ceiling onto Jacob as he ran into the training room, and the two rolled around the floor in an impromptu wrestling match. Shaking her head, Heather walked over, took each by the collar and pulled them apart. A sand-laden breeze blew into the room, and Layla materialized between Charlie and Jacob as they struggled to free themselves of Heather's grip.

"Fine, I surrender, now please let go!" Charlie said.

"Seconded." Jacob gave Heather a puppy dog face. Grinning, she released them, and Charlie straightened his jacket.

"Fooled you!" He cried, and scuttled up the wall and onto the ceiling as Heather lunged for him. Laughing, Jacob went to the elevator. He couldn't practice his new abilities indoor very well.

Downstairs, he took a few minutes to find the airlock. It was about the size of a large closet, which was why the Stellar Rangers hadn't found it. The water started flowing in, and Jacob yelped: it was icy cold. Why hadn't Marco ever bothered to get them shoes for when they were unmorphed?

The dark water filled up the room, and Jacob took a hesitant gulp of water. He felt his gills open up, and the water flowed out them. It was a peculiarly refreshing feeling, and Jacob took another breath. His eyes were glowing faintly, he realized, and he could see everything in a greenish, dim light. The airlock door opened, and Jacob pushed out into the lake. He'd been a decent swimmer before, but now it felt as natural as walking.

Out in the shadowy water, without any distractions, Jacob's mind turned back to his ever-present dilemma of being an evil Ranger. Now that he and his teammates had these new powers, Stellar Corps wouldn't know what had hit them. Charlie would hold back, Heather maybe, Layla no way, and Joe was a danger to both teams. Maybe if Jacob could annoy Joe enough, he'd leave off the Stellar Rangers and attack his teammates. That was a pretty cold thought. Despite the whole "evil" thing, Jacob felt kind of guilty for turning on the others like this. He liked them, they were decent people, but...

Jacob dove towards the bottom. This new power would only be useful in the water. He'd probably only get a chance to use it if they actually fought at the Hexagram. The rest of the time, he was slightly below the Stellar Rangers' level. His toes were starting to go numb. Jacob turned back towards the base.

As Jacob headed for his quarters, leaving a trail of water all the way, he nearly ran into Marco. The Purple Ranger was looking smug.

"Get changed and head all the way upstairs. Don't dawdle."

"Yes sir," Jacob said, not sure whether to salute or not. Marco went on, and put a foot directly in a puddle.

"And clean this up first." Risking a grin, Jacob saluted and headed off to his room.

As Jacob mopped up the water with a towel taken from his bathroom, he met Layla again. She was crouching, drying the puddles from the other direction.

"Thanks, but why?" Jacob asked, soaking up the last patch of water.

"I can't stand messes, and why not?"

"You don't like me?" Jacob suggested, standing up.

"We're teammates. I don't have to like you to help you. If you bring up us being evil, I'll punch you through the wall."

"The threat of extreme violence doesn't really help your case," Jacob said, and took a step back as Layla's eyes narrowed.

"Get upstairs," she said at last, standing and taking his soaked towel. Gratefully, Jacob went.

The others didn't seem too surprised by Jacob's tardy arrival. Marco was sitting at his desk, and the others stood around it. Layla arrived only moments later, and Marco pushed a button on the desk. A screen rose out of it, and turned on with a hum.

"We're calling Stellar Corps," Marco said, transforming back into the Alchemist. "I want you where I can give orders and have them carried out immediately. Now be quiet."

The screen changed to show a red-haired woman in an orange-highlighted Stellar Corps uniform. She started, and leaned over to speak into a communicator.

"Rangers, get up here. The Alchemist is calling live." A few more moments went by. The woman typed, Jacob shifted from foot to foot and wished his hair would stop dripping down his collar. Then the Stellar Rangers, unmorphed, ran in and clustered around the screen.

"What do you want?" The Red Ranger asked.

Marco smiled. "I'm in a generous mood today, Stellar Corps. I've decided to bring you out of the dark on something very important: I don't exist. There is no Alchemist, only a morphological being named Ivan Ooze, and your very own Marco." And the Alchemist's features shifted and hardened into Marco's face. Jacob didn't have a very good view, but he heard some chairs fall over, and a stifled shriek.

"Ivan Ooze?" The Pink Ranger, the one who'd just screamed, demanded.

"You've heard of him? Good, that should keep him happy for the rest of the day," Marco said.

"Come on, you're obviously a fake," The Green Ranger protested. "You're a shapeshifter; you can look like whoever you want."

"Test me."

"Who was the last person you spoke to in your home universe?" The woman asked.

"Amelia Pond. If our child is a girl, Amelia will be her middle name," Marco replied, cool as a cucumber. "And it is a girl, by the way."

"It's him," The woman—Marco's wife?—said.

"Okay, why?" The Blue Ranger asked, sitting up.

"A unique offer: a way home." Frowning, Stellar Blue got up and moved out of view.

"Hold that thought," he said over his shoulder.

"That bad here, huh?" The Yellow Ranger asked, folding his arms.

"Yes," Marco said. Stellar Red stormed out of frame.

"Mind control," Marco's wife said. "Has to be. James, can you—"

"No," The Blue Ranger called. "You know that. Shut up, I've got something big here."

"I'm not going to abandon you, Elandra," Marco said.

"Instead, you're going to drag me and our child into a universe you've told me many times is much harsher than this one, where we don't have powers? Your logic is stunning."

"Wait!" The Blue Ranger shouted, making everyone jump. He darted back to the screen. "Marco, when your men came through the Crack, you couldn't remember them, right?"

"Right," Marco said, furrowing his brow. "Where are—"

"That's because, as they went through the Crack, they were erased from history. They didn't just disappear, they never existed at all. And when you went through yourself, you got erased too." Marco's expression slackened as he put the pieces together. Grinning, James continued. "If you go back now, nobody will recognize you, because you were never even born. Ivan Ooze has nothing to give you."

Convulsively, Marco switched off the computer, rested his elbows on the desk, and buried his head in his hands. Jacob and his teammates exchanged awkward glances. Nobody said anything for a long, long minute.

Then Marco let out a bitter laugh. "Erased. All for nothing." He chuckled again, though it sounded pained. Jacob bit his lip, and wondered whether trying to comfort the Purple Ranger would get him in trouble or not.

"They'll be on the way," Marco said, sitting back up. His eyes were red, but he looked composed. "Go out and fight them off."

"Sir?" Charlie asked. Marco swung the chair around slowly to look the Red Ranger in the eye.

"I gave you an order. _Obey it._" Marco nearly spat the words out. The Rangers went. Jacob couldn't help but look back as the elevator went down. Marco was resting his head on his arms, laughing and crying at the same time.

~oMo~

The Stellar Rangers dropped out of the muggy, already-hot June sky. The Monster Rangers were standing on a ledge beside the Hexagram Lake, waiting. The Swan Zord landed nearby, and the five Demi-Zords encircled Jacob and his teammates.

"Now," Charlie said, and the Monster Rangers put their hands on their morphers.

"By the power and force of lightning, make us grow! Revenge Mode!"

Jacob looked down at himself, and the silver, spiky armor his Zord suit had become. Black lightning bolts ran down his arms, legs and across his chest, and there was a massive silver gun in his arms. Grinning in spite of himself, Jacob leveled his gun at his opposite, hearing his teammates do the same. They all fired at once.

With a thunderous boom, the Typhoon Zord was flung backwards into the lake. Instinctively, Jacob dove after him, tackling him into the lake. They went under, the Typhoon Zord going into Sub Mode. Jacob tried to hold on, but the Zord slipped out of his grasp and away into the shadows. Floating just below the surface, Jacob looked around for his opponent. Explosions of every color lit up the water, making the surface ripple.

Then the Typhoon Zord rocketed out of an underwater cave, ramming Jacob from behind. The Monster Ranger felt something sharp stab into his mid-back, and twisted around to try and grab the Demi-Zord. It transformed into Warrior Mode and clung to his back like a limpet.

Jacob couldn't reach it no matter how he struggled. They kept breaking the surface in their wrestling match, churning up the water. Jacob glimpsed the Yellow Stellar Ranger charge Layla, only for her to dissolve into sand, re-form behind him and pin his arms. A rush of black, bubble-filled water, and then Heather hoisting her opposite in the air. Joe was a wolf again, a huge, spiky Zord wolf. Halfway down the cliff, Charlie kept darting away from the other Red Ranger's shots.

Then Jacob dragged the Typhoon Zord to the bottom, taking advantage of his greater height and weight. It struggled, but underwater, most of its laser-powered weapons were useless. As they bumped against the rocky lake floor, Jacob realized with a burst of guilt that he was enjoying this. A lot. His moment of distraction was exactly what the Blue Ranger needed.

The Typhoon Zord kicked Jacob in the face and slithered past him. Jacob managed to grab his ankle as he went up, and was dragged along. The Demi-Zord kicked loose as they broke the surface, firing Positron Cannon down at Jacob. He landed a direct hit on Jacob's chest, and the Black Monster Ranger dropped down into the water.

He stayed under only long enough for the water to soothe his burns. Clambering out, he joined his fellow Monster Rangers. They all looked like him; slightly damaged but still very ready to fight. On the other hand, the retreating Stellar Rangers looked awful, Demi-Zord hulls torn and spewing energy.

"Let them go," Marco ordered over their radios. "We only want to give them a taste of what you can do. Power down and I'll teleport you back inside."

They did as they were told, and were back inside Marco's dark room again in a twinkling. The White Ranger passed out the healing formula as needed—which wasn't much—without another word.

"Sir?" Charlie ventured. Marco turned to him. "I'll be blunt: how do we know we can trust you? You have a wife and unborn child on the other side. They're your Rangers."

"You're just as much my Rangers as they are. More, actually," Marco said. He sat down at his desk. "Elandra built the Stellar Power Rings, and I created everything about you and your powers. Believe me, whatever attachments I had to Stellar Corps have now been severed. I'll tie up the loose ends as quickly as possible. All of them." Jacob looked at his icy expression, and shuddered involuntarily. Marco noticed, and his eyes narrowed.

"Is something wrong, Black Ranger?"

"No," Jacob said, hoping it wasn't too hasty-sounding.

"Rangers, you're dismissed. Not you, Anderson." Jacob stopped up short. The others went to the elevator, casting glances back at him. Heather looked worried, but the rest were impassive. Turning and standing at attention, Jacob met Marco's gaze evenly. The Purple Ranger got up, and strode towards Jacob.

"You've always been reluctant, Black Ranger. I've seen you fight; you have this bad habit of freezing up right before you crush the enemy. Guilt, maybe?" Jacob tried not to breathe too quickly.

"No, sir. I'm a former junior police officer. I'm used to arresting the enemy, or giving him parking tickets, not crushing him." Jacob said, measuring his words carefully and not breaking eye contact.

The Purple Ranger stared at him for a long, long time. Jacob wished there was a way to control sweating, and hoped that the leftover damp from training and the battle would disguise it.

"Mark my words, Black Ranger. I do not trust you as far as I could throw you, and I'll be watching you from now on. You're expendable. If you let them take you down, if you so much flinch before the final blow, if you let just one civilian escape, then I will kill you. No excuses, no mercy. Understood?"

"Understood, sir."

"Dismissed," Marco said, turning away. Jacob turned and strode to the elevator. He forced himself to breathe normally, heading straight for the airlock. Marco could probably still monitor him out on the lake, but he needed to feel alone for a while. Inside, he was shaking.

~oMo~

Trivia: In the Sentai, Raikou Red (Tomi) and Raikou Black (Ayame) had more of a romantic relationship, while Green (Makoto) was Ayame's older brother who looked out for her.


	12. Chapter 12: Backstories

Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Saban.

~oMo~

Jacob and Joe were tussling in the training room. Everyone else had already finished, but the Blue and Black Rangers had been too evenly matched. As the fight had gone on, Joe had gotten angrier and angrier at not being able to get a hit in.

Flipping over onto his back, Jacob kicked Joe away as he came down, throwing the younger boy into a wall. As he sprang back up, Joe lunged at Jacob, but he rolled out of the way and tackled him from behind. With a nearly wolfish howl of rage, Joe transformed. Sliding out of Jacob's grip, he ran towards one of the doors, which slid open automatically as he came near it.

"Don't!" Jacob yelled, charging after his teammate. The bedroom door opened to reveal Layla wrestling on the floor with the snarling wolf. They'd already knocked over the furniture and bashed in the closet door.

Jacob picked up the wolf from behind, which transformed back into Joe and twisted around in his grip. Snarling, he clawed at Jacob, who pinned his arms with a hug and headbutted him in the nose, hard. Joe crumpled, blood running from his nose. Layla, disheveled and scratched up, darted past the combatants and out the door.

"I'm getting a hypo! Hold him!" She yelled, as Jacob straddled Joe's chest. The younger boy arced his body, trying to twist out of Jacob's grip, but Jacob held on. He was making those Weeping Angel shrieks again, alternated with lupine howls that sounded like someone was using sandpaper on the inside of his throat. Layla zipped around Jacob and began injecting the formula into Joe's neck. His breathing eased, and he stopped struggling.

"Thanks," Layla said, as Jacob got up cautiously. His forehead throbbed, and he was covered with little bruises and lacerations. Shamefaced, Joe rolled over and got up. He put a hand to his bloody nose.

"The Angels are real," he said, pausing at the door. "I'm not crazy. Not yet, anyway."

"I know," Jacob said. Not looking convinced, Joe left. Layla pulled the elastic band out of her hair, and re-ponytailed it. There were several bleeding bites on her arms, and scratches everywhere. She barely glanced at Jacob.

"Get out of my room."

"What, no 'thank you for helping me capture the rabid wolf,' just more snide orders?" Jacob folded his arms.

"You were fighting him, you made him lose control. You paid for that mistake by helping restrain him. What is there to thank you for?" Layla said, dusting herself off. "Would you like it if I ran into your room whenever I wanted?"

Jacob got up with a huff of frustration. Looking around, he realized with some surprise that this room was almost furnished. There was a stack of books in one corner, and a couple of practice swords on another wall. A movie poster with a spaceship and the words "Asteroid Conquest III" hung above the bed. Then Jacob's eye fell upon the overturned bedside table, and he paused. There was something stuck to the bottom.

Layla had turned and begun going through the jumpsuits that had been pulled off their hangers by the fight. With a guilty glance at the Yellow Ranger, Jacob picked up the table and flipped it around. There was a photo clipped out of a newspaper taped to the bottom of the table. It was old, tattered at the edges and had a few blood stains in the corners, but the picture was still clear. Five Rangers in unfamiliar uniforms, standing in front of an exploding monster.

"Which Rangers are these?" Jacob asked, setting the table down. Layla whirled around, eyes wide—was that fear? She punched Jacob in the face and pulled the table away, flipping it upright and shoving it against the wall.

"Get out!" She yelled. Sitting up, Jacob shook his head and looked up at Layla. Yes, under the anger she was clearly scared. Then the door slid open, and Marco looked inside. Both Layla and Jacob jumped.

"What happened? I heard fighting."

"Joe lost it again, attacked Layla in here," Jacob said. "I was helping her clean up." Marco looked satisfied, and left without another word.

"Get out," Layla said, quietly so Marco wouldn't hear.

Jacob let out an incredulous sound. "You're unbelievable. I just saved your hide, and you tell me to leave?"

"Yes. Leave."

"Oh no you don't. At least tell me why you've got a picture of Power Rangers stuck to your table," Jacob said, getting up. Layla turned around and folded her arms, glaring at him with unmistakable venom.

"Do you want me to just spill my guts to you? Tearfully explain how I always wanted to be a Power Ranger after one of them saved my life, idolized them since childhood and modeled myself on them? How all that fell apart when I got sick and my family pulled the plug? How the Alchemist offered me everything I ever wanted and I use doublethink to keep my conscience quiet?"

"...Yeah, something like that," Jacob said, after a moment.

Layla's voice was flat. "We're a team. I would have done the same for you. I owe you nothing."

"You've been eavesdropping."

"I don't go out of my way, but I notice things." Layla half-turned back to her closet. "Like, all of us met Power Rangers when we were children. We'd all be dead without the Alchemist—Marco and Ivan Ooze. And you never wanted to do this."

"So why not turn me in, and get a more loyal replacement?" Jacob asked. Now Layla faced him fully, holding a torn jumpsuit loosely in her right hand.

"Like I said, we are a team now. We look out for each other. Besides, reluctance hasn't stopped you from helping us."

"That's as close to a compliment as you're going to get, isn't it?" Jacob said, with a wry smile.

"Yes, as far as you're concerned, now get out."

"How'd you get that picture in here without being caught?" Jacob persisted. Layla glared at him. "Not just that. All of this stuff," he gestured to the books, swords and poster. "If you're getting special privileges, what does that do to our teamwork?"

After a long minute, Layla spoke. "Marco let me go to my house when they were clearing out my things. Said it was a reward for being such a loyal Ranger, but to not take enough stuff to be missed."

"I doubt anyone else has been able to do that," Jacob said in a bitter tone. Now it was his turn to fold his arms and glare accusingly at Layla. To his (carefully concealed) surprise, she actually glanced guiltily at her possessions.

"I could ask Marco to let the rest of you take trips out, as a reward for loyal service."

"That would be—well, decent," Jacob said. "Nothing about this situation is fair."

"No, it isn't," Layla said, surprising Jacob again. "But it makes everything more bearable."

~oMo~

Marco agreed to it, though the Rangers were to go one at a time, accompanied by Layla. Charlie left first, returning an hour later with barely two handfuls of stuff. There was a model motorcycle, and a couple of photos.

"I'm a gamer," he said by way of explanation. "Can't really bring those here, and I don't have much else. Whoever got the house pretty much cleaned everything out already."

"Why the bike, though?" Heather asked.

"Present from a guy who kind of became my big brother awhile after my dad died. He loved motocross." Charlie fished a picture out of the handful, which he passed to Heather. "This is him."

Jacob looked over Heather's shoulder, and saw a sandy-haired teen in motocross gear with his arm around a tweenage Charlie. From the looks on their faces, the cameraman had said something surprisingly funny right before snapping the picture.

"I know this guy." Layla plucked the picture out of Heather's hands and looked more closely at it. "He was a Power Ranger."

Charlie performed a double take. "What?"

"Crimson Thunder," Layla said, passing the picture back to Charlie. "Evil at the beginning, but he and his brother switched sides."

"That…actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it," Charlie said, staring at the picture with new eyes. He looked up at Marco. "Wait…you picked me to be your evil Red Ranger, because I was friends with another former evil Red Ranger?"

"Well, technically I did," Marco said, with the American accent that signaled Ivan Ooze was in the driver's seat. He grinned toothily. "I love the smell of irony in the morning."

"Let's go," Layla said to Joe. "We're running out of daylight up there." Marco teleported them out.

Charlie went to his room, and Heather and Jacob sat down to wait. When Joe and Heather returned in a flash, Joe went straight to his quarters without saying anything to anyone. Heather took her turn, coming back with a wide plaid bag stuffed with things.

Jacob took Layla's arm, and the training room dissolved, re-forming into his room. The sun had nearly set, but his new night vision helped him not trip over everything. It was a lot cleaner than he was used to, nearly spotless in fact. Surrounded by all of his old things, breathing in the slightly musty, Windexy smell of his old house, Jacob's mental list of things to get flew out the window.

Shoes. Yes, that was important. Jacob went to the closet and grabbed his uniform shoes, and instinctively winced as he saw how long ago it had been since their last polish. His sergeant would have yelled at him for letting them get in this condition. Well, Marco didn't seem to care. What else? Much as he wanted to, he couldn't bring everything.

Then Jacob got another idea. It must still be in a drawer. He started going through his dresser. Layla folded her arms and watched impassively. He found what he was looking for, crammed in the corner of his shirt drawer. Pulling out a crumpled, battered piece of fabric, black and covered in a skull-and-crossbones pattern, Jacob grinned a little and tucked it into a pocket.

"Some relic from the Ranger who saved you?" Layla asked.

"Not a Ranger. Technically, they saved my dad, but while he was captured, a couple of punks named Bulk and Skull looked out for me. This was theirs."

"How'd you get it?" Jacob's ears turned pink, and he started looking for other things. He wanted a picture of his dad. Unfortunately, from the look on Layla's face, his cageyness was only making her more interested. "You know about my secret, tell me yours."

"It was an ersatz diaper." Jacob picked up a photo of his dad with his three top students; Aisha Campbell, Adam Park and Rocky Desantos. They still came by occasionally. "Bulk and Skull tore up all of the real ones trying to figure out how they worked, so they used a bandanna." He set it down and took up a well-loved copy of The Baron's Betrayal.

Jacob heard a funny, muffled snort, and turned around. Layla had a hand over her mouth, and was trying not to laugh. She looked genuinely happy for the first time since Jacob had met her, and it looked strange. She seemed less hard, more like a real person.

"It's been through the wash about five hundred times," Jacob said, distinctly uncomfortable and rather stiff.

"Right," Layla said, regaining control. "Is that it?"

"Yeah."

Layla arched an eyebrow. "Do you normally wear shoes without socks?" Jacob slapped his forehead and grabbed a couple balled-up pairs of socks out of his drawer.

"_This_ is it."

Layla took his arm, and spoke into her communicator. "Ready, sir." They dematerialized.

~oMo~

"What did Marco say to you?" Heather asked, hanging the now-empty plaid bag in her closet. She and Jacob were in her room, as she finished putting away her newly-recovered belongings.

"Threats. He doesn't trust me."

"When have you ever done anything treacherous?" Heather said, turning towards him. Jacob met her eye—at least, he was sure he did, even though she didn't have any irises or pupils to give it away. Now that he was getting used to them, her eyes reminded him of jet, and they suited her.

"You already know I've never liked what we're doing," Jacob said.

"Sure, but then none of us are entirely happy with it. No, not even Layla. Just because she won't talk to you doesn't mean she's made of stone. She has bad dreams about her Rangers—that's what she calls Dino Thunder, 'her' Rangers—showing up, and Marco making her fight them."

"This isn't a safe conversation," Jacob said. Heather shrugged.

"It's going to come out some time, why not now?"

"Well, I haven't had a chance to do anything to ease Marco's suspicions yet. After a battle or two, he might be more forgiving."

"You sound like Charlie," Heather said, rolling her eyes.

"Charlie's smart."

"He's heartless," Heather retorted. "I saw him after Marco spilled everything, and he was cool as a cucumber."

"He looks out for Joe, that isn't heartless," Jacob said.

"Not for ages. Ever since they cut the link to the Weeping Angels, he and Joe have barely said two words to each other."

"That's because Joe's going crazy," Jacob protested.

"Why are you defending Charlie? What has he ever done for you?" Heather slid away from Jacob, glaring at him.

"What's he ever done to hurt me? Like Layla said, we're teammates now, and we can't fight among ourselves."

"Thus says Mr. 'We're evil Rangers, we don't do anything nice!'" Heather did air quotes as she spoke.

"Sure, throw that back in my face," Jacob snapped. "What about us?"

"Not exactly uncommon for bad guys," Heather said, springing to her feet. "Actually, sometimes I wonder what you really feel about me."

"How did we get from Charlie to you?" Jacob said, jumping up as well. "Is that just the way your mind works? Everything comes back to you eventually?"

"You were the one who brought 'us' up, not me." The two stared at each other, chests heaving, for a long minute.

"Now what?" Jacob said. His calm voice made Heather crack up, and she dropped back onto her bed with a thump. "So we're going to skip the Big Misunderstanding where one of us goes to a member of the opposite sex for comfort, gets spotted, and the other storms out and gets in big trouble, then?" Heather laughed harder.

"Why would you go to Layla, anyway?"

"No idea. I think we're starting to get through to her, though," Jacob said, sitting down next to Heather.

"We?" Heather asked, sitting back up and wiping tears of laughter away.

"Well, she actually didn't beat me to a pulp for saying something stupid, and she was the whole 'teamwork' one, which seems like progress. And she talked Marco into letting us go out."

"Whatever you're doing, keep doing it," Heather said, and rested her head on his shoulder. Jacob wondered if he should put an arm around her shoulders. Deciding to go for it, he was relieved and pleased when she leaned into the embrace. When she spoke again, it was with a quieter, more melancholy voice. "I'm tired. Being an evil Ranger is hard work."

"No! _Really_?" Heather started laughing again, and punched him in the arm.

~oMo~

Trivia: Layla's "doublethink" is a reference to George Orwell's _1984_. Doublethink is the ability to hold two contradictory opinions to be true at the same time.

A/N: Layla never had a name on the show. She appeared in the Dino Thunder episode Wave Goodbye. The reason I picked her was because that episode was the first time I ever saw Power Rangers—though I have a vague idea that I knew about Kendrix's death before that.


	13. Chapter 13: Separation

Disclaimer: Because it's unspoken proper etiquette to do this every time. I don't own Power Rangers or Doctor Who.

A/N: You may have noticed that this is a bit early. Well, I'm going to be out all Saturday and a good chunk of Sunday, so I'm uploading now and getting it out of the way.

~oMo~

It was nearly midnight when Jacob crept into Charlie's quarters. The Red Ranger had slipped Jacob a message earlier, during that day's sparring session, to meet here and now for planning. The lights were off, but even without his morpher—for fear alerting Marco by moving it around—Jacob could see better in the dark than most humans. Two red points of lights came on in the corner, and Jacob headed over on tiptoe.

"You weren't followed?" Charlie breathed.

"No," Jacob whispered, sitting down. "What is it?"

"We're not going to be able to do this again for a while, or Marco will get suspicious. We need to come up with plans for every scenario we can think of, now," Charlie said. "But I'm going to make one rule that you cannot break, under any circumstances. Don't sacrifice yourself for me. If Marco decides I'm a traitor, don't do anything to arouse his suspicion, even if it means attacking me."

"I can't!" Jacob hissed.

"Yes you can. If anyone's going to convince the others to switch sides, it'll be you. You've nearly won Heather over, and Layla's coming. Joe doesn't listen to me anymore. I'm the more expendable of the two of us. Plus I'm the Red Ranger, you have to obey me."

"I'm not going to just stand by and let you die," Jacob snapped, a little too loudly, and clamped his mouth shut. They waited for one tense minute, but nothing happened.

"You're going to bide your time until you can actually help," Charlie hissed, "Not play the martyr and leave Stellar Corps with four genuinely evil Rangers and nobody on the inside. Understood?"

"Understood," Jacob said slowly.

"Good. Now, plans."

"How about if we actually down a Stellar Ranger?"

"You can insist that everyone get out of the way, and gloat until he gets your weapon away from you or one of his friends takes you out. Rough him up a little to drag it out. Or I can start arguing that we just kill him, and then we get into a fight."

"How about if Heather, Layla or Joe gets them?" Jacob asked.

"Same basic idea. Push past insisting that you want to be the one to do it, or I'll say I want to do it to make absolutely sure he's dead."

"And if they won't let us?"

"Accuse them of insubordination. Throw a tantrum," Charlie said. Jacob was silent.

"I can't think of anything else. My brain is tired," Jacob said.

"Mine too," Charlie admitted. "Go back to bed."

Jacob crept back out, and into the empty training room. He was about to go back into his own quarters, when he heard voices. Turning, Jacob saw that there was a light on in Fischer's old quarters. Marco must have taken them.

Telling himself over and over that he shouldn't be doing this, Jacob crept over to the door. He crouched down just behind the doorpost, and listened.

"What do you owe Stellar Corps now?" Marco said—at least, it sounded like Marco, but different.

"I created them," Marco said, now sounding like himself. Then Jacob realized that he was switching between American and British accents. "I'm married to one of them!"

"Cut those ties," he said in the American accent again.

"I can't talk to you like this, Ooze," Marco said. "Get out." There was a weird squelching sound, and a new, American-accented male voice spoke up.

"Okay, now look me in the eye and tell me you don't like this just a teensy bit better? I've been in your head, remember? I know you're starting to hate Stellar Corps. You humans are so strange; if you do someone else a bad turn, you loathe them for it."

"Shut up," Marco said. There was a thump, like someone dropping into a chair. It creaked.

"You need to choose a side, Marco," Ivan said. "Which is it going to be? The Rangers you've already betrayed or the ones who serve you loyally?" Marco said nothing. "Do you really think Stellar Corps is going to welcome you back with open arms? James will know the second he goes into your head that you knew exactly what you were doing from the beginning."

"They were your plans!" Marco protested. Jacob's foot was falling asleep, but he didn't dare shift for fear of them hearing.

"I didn't force you to carry them out," Ivan said, in a low voice. "You could have given Stellar Corps the Angel-trapping forcefield. You could have told them that we'd infected an army with Weeping Angels, or told those people how to save themselves, or not kidnapped them in the first place! You could have given Fischer's formula to science. But no. You're as guilty as I am."

There was a sigh.

"I know," Marco said. "And I'm with you."

"Then stop trying to hang on to Stellar Corps," Ivan hissed. "Oh, and get me my own body. Yours wasn't built for two." Jacob got up and stumbled a little. Pins and needles running up his leg, he crept back to his own room. At least he knew for sure that Marco hadn't seen him talking to Charlie.

~oMo~

"New mission," Marco said, a few days later after training. He'd joined them, and though he was slower than they, he clearly had more combat experience. Also, he didn't play fair, even by Layla's standards. "Layla, Charlie, Heather and Joe will attack KO-35. Jacob, we're going to the Satellite Base for another raid."

"Sir, why don't we just blow it up?" Layla asked.

"Where would the fun be in that?" Ivan Ooze replied through Marco's mouth. "Besides, there might be something up there we'll want in the future. Waste not…"

"Understood," Layla said stiffly.

"Get going," Marco said. "The usual—keep the Rangers occupied as long as possible."

"Unleash the monster within!" The six shouted, morphing with a flash.

Marco teleported the others out first, and then set the coordinates for himself and Jacob. Neither Ranger spoke. They did the usual hop to the Moon, and flew up to the Satellite Base. The Stellar Rangers had switched the coordinates, but Marco knew the new ones, and typed them in without delay.

In the Zord Bay lay a wide black pod. Marco headed straight for it, and Jacob followed. Nobody was around, and from the looks of things, most of the Demi-Zords had been repaired and taken out.

"Keep an eye out," Marco said, and ran a hand along the pod. It rumbled, and Jacob jumped. "Good. Stand over there and keep on your guard," the Purple Ranger said, stepping back. He drew a blaster from his hip and aimed it at the black pod. Jacob went, and Marco fired.

The purple beam struck the side of the pod with a flash. Marco held the trigger down, and steam began to curl outwards. Then blue electricity arced across the beam and slammed into the Purple Ranger, throwing him into a wall. His gun clattered to the floor, and sparks blasted out of the new hole. Jacob didn't know what to do.

Blue energy crackled all over Marco's body, and he fluxed in and out of morph. Letting out a howl, the man clutched his head, and his skin began to turn purple. No, a purple body was forming over his own. As Jacob watched, Ivan Ooze materialized in front of Marco, and they broke apart with a crack.

Then it was all over. Jacob looked from the two people to the now-silent black pod. Smoke billowed out of the hole. Marco and Ivan were panting for breath, the former unmorphed. Then, sitting up, Ivan began to cackle.

"Yes! After all these years, I'm free!" He cried.

"You're welcome," Marco said.

"Get up, old boy," Ivan said, slapping Marco on the shoulder as he struggled to his feet. The morphological being rolled his head around, cracking his neck muscles with a contented sigh. "You were a fine host, but a man needs his own body, eh?" He laughed again.

"On that, we agree," Marco said, and turned to Jacob. The Black Ranger realized he was gaping like a fish, and shut his mouth with a snap. "Let's go. You help the others; I'll drop Ivan off at the Hexagram and join you shortly. He's got a monster to finish."

"…What did you do?" Jacob asked at last.

"Used this Phaedosian ship's restorative energy to return Ivan Ooze's body to a life-sustaining state," Marco said curtly, gesturing to the pod.

"I—thought he was controlling you," Jacob said, hoping he didn't sound suspicious. "That's usually how it works."

"Only partially," Marco said. "If you were hoping for me to 'turn good,' you're mistaken." He set a data disc down on top of the pod.

"Just curious," Jacob said, and started for the bay doors. Then he paused. "A monster to finish?"

"Just to shake things up," Ivan said with a grin.

~oMo~

Jacob and Marco teleported to the outskirts of the main city of KO-35. The Swan Zord was parked near the battlefield again, and as they arrived, Jacob could see the Orange Ranger climbing out. The Blue and Pink Stellar Rangers had Joe in a corner, and were taking off his helmet. Layla and Heather had just been taken out with a well-placed split kick from the Red Stellar Ranger. Charlie was picking himself up.

Then the Pink Ranger was charging Jacob, and he quickly raised his Storm Trident to defend himself. She went into superspeed, and Jacob was slashed from every direction at once, try as he might to trip her or knock her down with his trident. Then a green blur slammed into the pink one, and both Stellar Rangers tumbled down the stairs in a heap.

Jacob dropped to one knee, panting. A hand seized his shoulder, and he heard Heather asking him if he was okay. Jacob nodded, and gestured for her to go back to fighting. Jacob took a quick glance around the battlefield.

Charlie was clinging to a wall, deflecting his opposite's attacks one-handed. The Yellow Stellar Ranger was playing tug-of-war with Layla over her meteor hammer, and he had the end wrapped around a railing to help. Stellar Blue held Joe's head with glowing hands, and Jacob wondered what he was doing. Marco and the Orange Ranger were talking as they fought.

"Marco?" The Orange Ranger gasped. Jacob stood up, and swung his Storm Trident.

"James was right," Marco replied, and flipped her over his back. She hit the ground with an oof, and rolled over. "It'd be worthless to go home to a universe where everyone I knew or loved had forgotten me. I'll settle for making sure no one forgets me in this one!" And drawing his chakram with a flick of the wrist, he hurled it around the battlefield.

Jacob ducked, and the ring whizzed over his head. Stellar Blue was struck on the back of the head, and he headbutted Joe. Stellar Red took a hit to the side. Heather's opponent swung her around to take the hit for him, and she jerked and crumpled. The Pink Ranger ducked, and Yellow was thrown down the stairs.

"Done!" Stellar Blue shouted, and raising his glowing hand, knocked Joe out again. Pushing herself up on her elbows, Heather threw a dagger at the Stellar Ranger. He was knocked off Joe and thrown into the wall with a thump.

"Enough!" Marco shouted, shoving the Orange Ranger away and flipping out of her reach. He teleported away in a purple flash. Jacob rolled out of the Pink Ranger's reach, and teleported out along with everyone else.

In the Hexagram, everyone lay where they'd landed and caught their breath for a few minutes. For once, nobody had been seriously injured.

Jacob rolled his head around, and saw Ivan Ooze standing at the monitor on Marco's desk. It showed something blurry and dark that looked a bit like an oversized buzzard. Jacob sat up and went over, at the same time as Layla did.

"What is that?" The Yellow Ranger asked. Jacob stared at the enormous, gawky bird. It looked like a giant, ludicrous puppet.

"Marco's idea. It's called the Giant Claw, for some reason," Ivan said. He shrugged and changed the view so they could see the Demi-Zords circling the creature.

"Joe?" Jacob turned to see Charlie bending over the Blue Ranger. Now that he was looking, Jacob saw that the sixteen-year-old looked unusually calm. Hollow-eyed, but immensely relieved.

"I'm fine. Better than I've been in a while, actually," Joe said, and a grin crept over his face. "They're gone, really gone, not just hiding like when you use the formula. The Angels. I don't know what that Blue Ranger did, but I'm sorry I bit him."

"That's great!" Charlie exclaimed, and helped Joe up. Jacob's face broke into a relieved grin, and he wasn't the only one.

"Does this mean no more berserk attacks?" Heather asked.

"Sorry about those," Joe said, flushing. "They wouldn't shut up unless I was fighting, and then they kept goading me to kill something." He looked up, and saw the mostly-concealed disappointment on Marco and Ivan's faces. "I'm still loyal to you guys," the Blue Ranger said quickly. "Only now, I'm not going to attack my own teammates. I know who the enemy is."

"I hope you do," Marco said. He turned to the others. "You may leave or watch the fight, whichever you prefer."

Layla, Charlie and Jacob stayed. Heather muttered something about a hot shower, and Joe slipped out without a word. The Yellow, Red and Black Rangers gathered around the monitor, and watched the Giant Claw bite down on the Red Demi-Zord.

It let go when the resulting explosions burned its tongue, and then it lost its grip on the Yellow and Blue Demi-Zords in its talons. The Lagrange Zord took a few whirls around its head and shot up into the sky, and the enormous bird followed.

"What's he doing?" Charlie asked.

"I suspect he's just mastered some part of the Lagrange Zord's arsenal," Marco said. "That's usually how Power Rangers defeat a new, difficult monster, isn't it?"

"Yes," Layla said. "Normally it's something like a new Zord, or a battlizer, though." The five watched as dozens of tiny bits of metal flew out of the Lagrange Zord's body, and surrounded the Giant Claw. Green, steady laser beams shot out of them, and as each touched the Giant Claw, they sliced through with no resistance.

As Ivan Ooze and the four Monster Rangers watched, the Giant Claw was sliced and diced, exploding within minutes. Celebrating, the Stellar Rangers gathered and returned to base. Marco turned off the screen.

"Those were the Shield Bits," he said. "They aren't invincible. By tracking their movement and momentum, we can blow them out of the air."

"While we're being sliced into little tiny pieces," Charlie replied.

"They rarely focus on one more than one target at a time," Marco said.

"Rarely being the crucial word here," Layla said.

"Look, they've never used this before," Marco said. "He's not going to start multiple attacks this early. You're dismissed."

The three left, with many backward glances. Jacob couldn't stop wondering whether the lasers would hurt, or whether he'd be dead before he could feel them. Then he remembered how all of their previous battles had paired off by color. Suddenly Jacob's hands were very, very cold.

~oMo~

Trivia: The Giant Claw was voted the number one silliest monster movie creature by CineMassacre some time ago, and since the few monsters in this fic follow the theme, well, why not?


	14. Chapter 14: A Nasty Turn of Events

Disclaimer: Don't own Power Rangers. Don't own Doctor Who either, but since all I'm using is a red shirt, need I really mention it? Well, better safe than sorry.

Again, uploading early due to my not being here on Saturday.

~oMo~

"Okay, we need a new strategy," Charlie said. The six Monster Rangers were in the training room. "No more of this color-coordinated stuff. Layla, you take the Red Ranger. Jacob, Orange Ranger, Heather, Yellow, Joe Pink, Marco Blue, and I'll take Green." Jacob opened his mouth to protest, but Charlie glared at him.

"Good idea, but I've got my own ideas about the arrangement," Marco said. "I will fight the Orange Ranger, you the Blue one, and Jacob Green." Jacob stared at him for a moment incredulously. The White Ranger raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sir, I'm far more qualified—" Charlie protested, but Marco cut him off.

"I gave an order, Red Ranger. You will abide by it. You have ten minutes to get ready for our next attack, in Stone Canyon." And he turned and left without another word.

"What's the big deal? One Ranger's as good as another," Heather said. Silently, Charlie brought up the video of the Giant Claw's fight on the wall. The team watched in silence. Heather's skin paled a greenish-blue, and she glanced at Jacob in alarm.

"They aren't unbeatable," Layla said. "You can track their movement and destroy them. The Giant Claw just wasn't smart enough."

"Then why doesn't Marco do it himself—or you? The meteor hammer and chakram seem like the best weapons for this," Heather protested.

"But if they lose, the team suffers a lot more," Jacob said flatly, staring down at his hands. The webs between his fingers were starting to dry out; it had been a while since his last swim.

"Time," Marco's voice came over the speakers. The Rangers lined up, taking out their morphers.

"We might not even need to go to Zord Mode," Charlie said.

"Maybe," Jacob said, though he was not convinced. Marco was trying to get rid of him—using the Stellar Rangers so he could cause some damage first.

"Unleash the monster within!"

_Lying under a sheet on a table, Heather is struck repeatedly by lightning bolts. She stands up, the sheet and her skin glowing green-white. The light thickens and solidifies into her Ranger suit. Her cape blows in the wind as she drops into a fighting stance._

_Charlie springs out of a coffin in an underground crypt, and his long red-and-black cape wraps around him before melting into his Red Ranger suit. The black lightning bolts across his shoulders and chest gleam as he strikes a pose._

_Jacob dives into deep, black water. As the air rushes past him in bubbles, his skin turns into scales, which thicken and solidify into a Black Ranger uniform. He shoots up out of the water and lands on one knee._

_Inside a pyramid, Layla floats out of a sarcophagus, and bandages wind around her limbs, covering her entire body. They smooth out and become her Yellow Ranger uniform. The torchlight catches her black sleeves and pants as she poses._

_Joe stands under a full moon in the woods. Fur sprouts through his skin and clothes, runs together and becomes his Blue Ranger suit. The fanged helmet closes over his face, and he takes a fighting stance._

_Marco is standing in front of a mirror. He puts a hand through the glass, which ripples like water, and his reflection shifts into his Purple Ranger suit. Slithering like quicksilver, the glass works up his body and joins man and reflection together._

Ivan Ooze teleported them straight to the quarry, and they held their line. The wind began to blow, making their capes flutter. No Stellar Corps. They probably hadn't detected their presence yet. Jacob glanced at Joe, who stood on his right, and wondered whether the Blue Ranger was going to stay evil now that the Angels were gone. He'd seemed pretty nice before.

"You okay?" Jacob whispered to him.

"Yeah. Why shouldn't I be?"

"Lots of reasons. We usually lose these fights, for one."

Joe gave his head a tiny shake. "Not this time."

The Rangers weren't slow in coming. Most of the Demi-Zords were still damaged from the fight, but the Lagrange Zord wasn't one of them. The Pink Ranger was piloting a little ship that Jacob had never seen before. The Stellar Rangers climbed out and lined up across the quarry from Jacob and his teammates.

"You're here. Very well, from now onwards, no holds barred," Marco said flatly. Jacob thought he saw a blue flash around his opposite's eyes.

"He's serious," Stellar Blue said. "And it's really him."

"Fine. Let's do this," Stellar Red said, and drew his sword with a scarlet flash. The two teams of Rangers charged. Jacob and his teammates switched opponents at the very last second, and Stellar Corps's momentary surprise gave them an edge. Jacob slammed the butt of his trident into the Green Ranger's chest, and he staggered back. The Black Ranger leaped forward, trapping his opponent against a rock, and glanced at his teammates.

Heather kicked the Yellow Ranger into a boulder. Layla had locked weapons with Stellar Red, and they were talking again. All business, Charlie fired a volley of red laser quarrels at Stellar Blue, who deflected all of them. Less vicious than when he'd been possessed by the Angels, Joe dueled the Pink Ranger. On the far side of the quarry, Marco and the Orange Ranger went at it bare-handed.

Jacob's distraction cost him. The Green Stellar Ranger flipped his legs out from under him and slipped out of his grasp. As Jacob tried to get up, he took a solid whack across the shoulders and hit the gravel. He rolled over just in time to catch the downward lance stab on his trident. Jacob desperately wished they were somewhere near water. What good was a superpower if he could never use it in combat?

He rolled, and the Martial Lance's spearpoint dug into the gravel where his head had been. Jacob seized it as Stellar Green drew it back, letting it pull him back to his feet. The Green Ranger threw him loose, and Jacob flipped out of the way.

"I know we don't normally do this, but can we call out the Zords now?" Stellar Yellow shouted. Stellar Green struck Jacob on the wrist with his lance, and he dropped his Storm Trident with a yelp.

"Good idea," the Red Ranger replied, slashing Layla across the chest and backflipping away from her. The Pink Ranger started for her ship, but Joe transformed into a wolf and caught her by the shoulder. The Green Ranger seized Jacob by the upper arm, swung him around and right into Joe. Both Monster Rangers tumbled across the ground. Then, before either could get back up, an enormous sword slammed into the gravel between them and the Stellar Rangers.

"Unleash the monster within!" Joe shouted, and Jacob quickly echoed him. Monster Blue went to stomp on the Pink and Green Rangers, but their Red teammate peppered him and Jacob with Gatling gun lasers. Jacob's Revenge Mode armor deflected the hits with little spurts of energy, but they still felt like they'd leave bruises.

The Stellar Rangers got back to their Zords and flew into the sky, for maneuvering room. Jacob ducked the Lagrange Zord's glock shots, and took to the air along with his teammates. He twirled his Storm Trident. They had the old, clumsier Zords. They'd be easier to defeat, and then the Monster Rangers could team up on the survivors. A few weeks ago, Jacob would have been horrified at that kind of thought, but now he cared more about survival than letting the good guys win.

Layla fired her meteor hammer, but even with the Eagle Zord, the Red Ranger was fast. Heather was in top condition, firing dagger after dagger at Stellar Yellow. Without a sound, the Orange and White Rangers chased each other around the perimeter. The Pink Ranger's new ship was fast and powerful, and she was pounding Joe. Jacob concentrated on the Green Stellar Ranger.

They sparred as if using quarterstaffs, and each hit jarred Jacob's arms up to the elbow. At last, he swung the trident around and struck the Lagrange Zord across the head. It flew back out of range.

"Okay, enough's enough! Shield Bits!" Stellar Green shouted, and a swarm of little metal things flew out of holes all over the Demi-Zord's body. Backing up, Jacob twirled his trident and tried to watch as many of the Shield Bits at once as he could. His mouth was completely dry, and it made swallowing hard.

The Shield Bits opened fire, and Jacob attacked. He felt his trident impact, and saw the little bursts of fire or spirals of smoke as the Shield Bits dropped out of the sky. Layla was right: these things weren't unbeatable. He was beginning to get confident, when a laser sliced his trident across the middle. Jacob's first thought was "Okay, then," and he began going after the Shield Bits two-handed. Then he felt a line of burning white fire slice across his right wrist. The upper half of the trident, his hand still clutching it, dropped to the quarry. The stump was all sparking wires, but it still blazed with pain like it was a natural arm. Jacob let out a cry of surprise and pain.

"Big mistake," the Green Stellar Ranger said. Jacob just had time to realize that he was referring to Jacob's pause before the Shield Bits went back to work. Another laser cut through his left arm at the elbow, then his right shoulder. It all happened almost too quickly to hurt—but it did hurt, taking Jacob's breath so he couldn't even scream. He felt an explosion building, as his right leg was severed below the knee. The left followed, at the mid-thigh. As the Revenge Mode armor exploded, he felt himself teleport away.

Then he landed on the floor with a grunt. Everything was going blurry. Jacob could feel his Zord form, then his morph, vanish. Then the pain exploded in full force, and Jacob gasped like a fish. He cracked his eyes open, and saw a purple blur hovering over him. Ivan Ooze.

Cold, slimy goop fastened on the stumps of his limbs, and Jacob finally managed to cry out as Ivan Ooze stuck him back together like a broken toy. Then Ivan picked him up by the chest, and plunked him in the power-removing chair. Jacob couldn't make his brain do what he wanted. It just wanted to notice little, ridiculous things, like that the chair had no name, or wonder why had Ivan bothered to fake-reattach his limbs.

"Is he alive?" Charlie's voice came from the computer somewhere behind Jacob.

"No," Ivan began, but Jacob gathered his breath and screamed.

"The damage is irreparable, and he's dying. If I don't take his powers away, they'll be destroyed along with him," Ivan said.

"Wait," Charlie ordered. "If you kill him, Heather will tear you apart, and I'll help her." Jacob could barely hear the Red Ranger. He slumped against an arm of the chair, shuddering a little as he landed on his slack right arm, and lost consciousness.

~oMo~

Jacob was woken up by Heather grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him upright. He screamed, and she nearly dropped him. The Green Ranger shifted her grip to his chest, and brushed his hair out of his face. Someone was throwing up: Joe? Jacob opened his eyes.

There was a worried-looking green blur right in front of him. Behind her were red, yellow and two purple blurs, all arguing very loudly. He couldn't see Joe; the room was too dark.

"Jacob, can you hear me?" Finally Heather's voice was resolving into words. Jacob blinked a few times, and tried to focus on her. Then all of his wounds burned at once, stopping his breath.

"We can't afford to train a whole new Ranger now," Charlie said.

"And we can't just execute one of our own, especially when he hasn't done anything but what he was ordered to!" Layla added.

"What am I supposed to do with him? The monster formula is carried by the blood, and there's no blood flow to severed limbs! If I don't take away his powers, I'll be short one Ranger, and he could die of infection or shock anyway," Marco replied, cool as a cucumber.

"The Orange Ranger could fix him," Charlie blurted out. "Even if we take away her Power Ring, she's from KO-35. Their tears can resurrect the dead, I'm sure they'll work on a couple of amputations."

"Brilliant. How do we get her?" Ivan asked sarcastically, folding his arms. Charlie glanced over at Jacob, and sighed through his teeth.

"Give me three days. I'll have her here by then. And don't monitor me—they might detect it."

Marco nodded. Heather smiled in relief, and Jacob felt his mind fogging up again. This time he dropped forward into the Green Ranger's arms as he passed out. Marco was talking, but the words all jumbled together into nonsense.

~oMo~

Jacob's eyelids snapped open. Ceiling lights, ouch, bright. He couldn't move his arms or legs—oh, yeah. He felt woozy, nauseous and thick. Probably painkillers. Someone was breathing nearby, and very cautiously, Jacob turned his head to look.

He saw the IV needles plugged into his shoulder first, and shivered. His limbs were still oozed onto his body. The mouth-breather was Heather, staring at him with her chin resting on her hand. She blinked, then sat up sharply when she saw he was awake. A relieved smile broke her face.

"Jacob!" Jacob tried to talk, but his tongue felt thick and heavy, and his mouth was dry. All he managed was a vague, raspy mumble.

"What happened?" He managed at last. "After…"

"Not much," Heather said. "Marco had some Toxicites put you in here and patch you up as well as we can, and then the computer started beeping. He said something about a virus for Stellar Corps, and then he told me to shut up." Her hand went instinctively to a dark blue bruise growing across her cheekbone.

Jacob shut his eyes. Just trying to pay attention and hear everything Heather said was tiring. He wondered briefly what Charlie's plan was. Heather was talking again, something about "sorry, didn't mean to ramble." He felt her lips brush his forehead, and then she was walking away. Sleeping was going to be easier than coping, especially with all the drugs he was probably on, so Jacob did that.

~oMo~

Trivia: The Sentai Purple Ranger was a ghost who needed to recharge between-and sometimes at the beginning of-battles.


	15. Chapter 15: Recovery

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers or that one red shirt from Doctor Who I've turned into a major villain.

~oMo~

Jacob woke up, but kept his eyes closed. He felt unpleasantly lucid—and little tingling pains were shooting up his body. The painkillers must be wearing off.

The door slid open, and he heard Ivan Ooze's robes rustling on the floor. Cautiously, Jacob opened his eyes, and the purple man grinned at him.

"Want to see what your friend's doing? Everyone else is sparring—or monitoring the controls."

"Not like I have anything else to do," Jacob said. Ivan Ooze turned on the wall screen and sat down next to him. It showed the Satellite Base, hovering near the Moon. Jacob turned his head to look at Ivan Ooze. "Isn't this kind of…I don't know, weirdly friendly for you?" He asked.

"What, I'm not allowed to be nice to my own Rangers? And besides, this way I don't have to explain any of this to you later. Marco doesn't like people watching over his shoulder, and I'm not much of a fighter."

"Does it count as looking over someone's shoulder if you can just possess them?" Jacob asked.

"Oh, he _hates_ that," Ivan said, with relish. "And I don't want to distract him right now. Look, Charlie's entering stage left."

Jacob looked back at the screen, lifting his head a little to see better. A short, boulder-ish Zord flew to the Moon, landing with a puff of dust. Charlie climbed out and stood by the Zord, waiting.

"Isn't that the Brute Zord?" Ivan Ooze snapped his fingers.

"That's its name, yes! It's to get Stellar Corps' attention. I rather like Charlie's plan. Sneak in with the Demi-Zord, hand over a fake morpher so they think he can't attack, then drop a smoke bomb and get out with the Orange Ranger. Who knows, maybe he'll kill someone on the way." Jacob shuddered, and the sudden pain made his breath catch in his throat. Ivan glanced at him, shrugged and went back to watching.

The Red and Green Rangers' Demi-Zords landed on either side of Charlie, and the two climbed out. Charlie demorphed, and held out both his morpher—or rather, the fake morpher Ivan had mentioned—and Marco's old Power Ring.

"What is this?" Stellar Red asked, snatching the morphers and looking them over. Charlie looked nervous.

"I'm on your side. Have been from the beginning, but haven't been able to do much to help. The Alchemist isn't much of a second-chances guy," the Monster Ranger said. Jacob flicked his eyes over to Ivan, but he was grinning. Good, he thought Charlie was lying. "But after what happened to Jacob, I think I'll risk it. These are real—I couldn't have flown the Zord up here without the real Ring."

"Fischer told us you and the Black Ranger were on our side right after the fight," the Green Ranger said. Jacob and Ivan Ooze both started.

"How? Fischer's—oh, right, KO-35 Ranger," Charlie said. "Why didn't he tell you before?"

"He wasn't alive before. We kind of forgot we could fix that," the Green Ranger admitted.

"Well, we've kept you pretty busy," Charlie replied. From the tone it was clear he wore a wry smile.

"What's your name?" The other Red Ranger asked.

"Charlie Hammond." Rex tossed him the Power Ring. Ivan couldn't help but snicker.

"Well, when Stellar Corps decides to trust you, they go all the way," he said, talking over Stellar Red.

"Is the Ring real, too?" Jacob asked. Stellar Green didn't seem too keen about the move.

"Wouldn't be able to drive the Brute Zord without it. But it should be pretty easy to grab once everything goes crazy." The three Zords were flying up to the Satellite Base. They all went in the doors, but the camera stayed outside.

"Before you ask, we can't get past their scanners without setting off at least a dozen alarms," Ivan Ooze said, as Jacob threw him an inquisitive glance. "Marco's spent more time trying to grab their upgrade information than on making sure we can watch them every minute of the day. We'll have to wait until Charlie gets out."

Jacob glanced down at his right arm, which was pasty-looking and limp. He tried to wiggle his fingers, but nothing happened. The purple, tacky band of goop around his shoulder felt icky and cold, and the one around his wrist only barely hid the cut. The amputations barely even hurt anymore—the goop at least soothed the laser burns.

After another three minutes or so, the Zord Bay doors finally opened. Ivan Ooze brought the image in closer, almost fast enough to make Jacob nauseous, and he got a look at the smoke-filled inside of the Zord Bay.

Charlie was already giant-sized, flying out of the Zord Bay doors on the cloud. His hands were cupped together, and Jacob guessed he was holding the Orange Ranger. Ivan Ooze was trying to peer through the smoke as the Zord Bay doors closed.

"Why didn't he even smack around the Demi-Zords a little first? And where's the Brute Zord?" Jacob shook his head helplessly. Charlie headed for the Moon, and the Zord Bay doors opened again. The Pink Ranger's new little ship shot out after Charlie.

The Red Ranger touched down, and Ivan counted down.

"Five, four, three, two, one—" and Charlie teleported away as the Pink Ranger opened fire. Ivan Ooze laughed triumphantly. "Mission accomplished! You'll be back on your feet in no time, Blue Ranger!" Then he frowned a little. "But I'm not sure we'll be able to get the Brute Zord through their defenses, even with the Power Ring." He got up, turned off the screen with a snap of his fingers, and swept out.

Jacob lay back, closing his eyes, and tried to rest. Despite everything, he was able to for a few minutes.

~oMo~

Half-asleep, Jacob frowned a little. Someone was shouting at the edges of his hearing—Marco, it sounded like, but he couldn't place the other voice.

The door burst open, and Jacob flinched, regretting it immediately as all of his stumps throbbed at once. His breath caught in his throat, and his eyes snapped open. Marco was standing there, holding the unmorphed Orange Ranger by the elbow. She looked banged-up and disheveled, and was shouting angrily at him.

"You started Stellar Corps! How could you just turn on us like that?" She cried.

"Your continued denial is ridiculous! I've switches sides, Elandra—even if I wanted to go back now, would anyone accept me?" Marco demanded.

"I'm not—" Elandra began, but Marco slapped her across the face with an audible crack, silencing her. He breathed hard for a moment, and when he spoke again, it was in measured tones.

"Heal my Black Ranger. I'm sure you'll be able to make yourself cry, but I'll help you if you can't." Marco shoved Elandra into a chair next to Jacob, stepped back, and folded his arms. She stared at her husband for a long minute. "If you care about the safety of your brat, then cry." Jacob heard her breath catch in her throat.

"You wouldn't."

Marco glared at her from under his dark eyebrows. "Do you really think that?"

After a moment, Jacob saw Elandra's shoulders begin to shake, and she put a hand over her mouth. Marco nodded curtly, turned her towards Jacob, and walked out.

Jacob had never been so uncomfortable—physically and otherwise—in his life. Elandra had already seen that he was conscious, so pretending to be asleep was out of the question. He looked towards the ceiling as the Orange Ranger sobbed.

Then it happened. A wave of cool energy washed over Jacob's body. Stiffening, he sucked in a breath as the feeling rushed back into his arms and legs all at once. Now he could feel the tears on his right hand, which he flexed.

Slowly, Jacob sat up, still a little shaky. He swiped at the ooze clinging to his limbs, but it only stuck to his fingers as well. Elandra sat back, sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Her face hadn't turned red and blotchy, and Jacob wondered if that was a KO-35 thing.

"Thanks," he said. It wasn't as if she'd had a choice, but it still had to be said. Elandra nodded.

"You're on our side, right?" She whispered, barely moving her lips. Jacob glanced around, wondering exactly how Marco was monitoring them. Elandra followed his eyes, and nodded barely perceptibly.

"Yes," Jacob whispered back. Then, louder, "how did you get here?"

"Charlie. He brought us the Brute Zord to convince us he was on our side, tossed out a smoke bomb and grabbed me in the chaos," Elandra said. The door opened, and Layla came inside.

"All right now?" She asked Jacob, who nodded. "Both of you come with me."

Jacob stood up, and helped Elandra out of the chair. She gave him a quick, grateful smile, and went ahead of him down the hall. Layla said nothing, barely even looked at Jacob or Elandra. At first, Jacob was a little uncoordinated, tripping and catching himself on the wall just in time. After that, he kept one hand on the wall, as his legs got used to walking again.

As they drew closer to the training room, Jacob could hear shouting. Ivan Ooze or Marco, he couldn't tell which, and he was furious. Jacob shivered, and then the door opened. The unhappy victim was Charlie, who stood with hands clasped behind his back, looking expressionlessly at Ivan Ooze.

"How could you have just _lost_ the Power Ring?" The morphological being yelled.

"It's a Ring, and not a very large one. It was dropped in the chaos, and I was busy defending myself—" Charlie began, only to be cut off.

"Oh yes, and somehow you managed to not kill a single Ranger, despite being big enough to just stomp on one of them!"

"Wounded, one of the Stellar Rangers would need help from his teammates. Dead, and the others are free to pursue me, and they're angry," Charlie said. Marco entered the conversation.

"Logical, though you could have killed at least one of them."

"You and I both know how well death sticks to a Power Ranger," Charlie said. Marco let out a bark of laughter.

"True enough. However, your incompetence in losing my Power Ring is not excusable," Marco said. With one quick motion he summoned Charlie's mace, and gave him a thwack across the head that made Jacob cringe. Charlie crumpled on his side, half-stunned and clutching at his ear. Blood stained his albino-white fingers.

Only now did Marco notice Layla, Jacob and Elandra. He glanced at the mace, wiped a little blood off on Charlie's jumpsuit, and tossed it back to its shelf.

"Layla, lock her up downstairs," he ordered, gesturing to Elandra. The Yellow Ranger nodded, and took Elandra by the elbow. Shrugging her off, Elandra gestured for Layla to lead the way. They left, and Marco turned to his remaining Rangers. Joe kept glancing at Charlie nervously, but didn't move to help him.

Jacob walked over, and Charlie pulled himself up on Jacob's shoulder. He left bloody fingerprints on Jacob's uniform, and though he couldn't get any paler than he already was, his face was slightly green. Heather gave him a sympathetic look.

"With the help of the revived Fischer, Stellar Corps discovered and neutralized my virus, but not before I was able to create a temporal explosion with the Kronos Cube. As it so happens, all of the male Rangers, along with Fischer, have been transported to the past. Pink may attack us in an attempt to rescue Elandra, or return to the Satellite Base to plan. Be ready," Marco finished. "Dismissed."

He turned on his heel and went up the elevator to his own private headquarters.

"Monster formula," Jacob said to Heather, who nodded. Charlie leaned on Jacob's shoulder as Heather went to the wall.

"Are you sure you should do that? Marco didn't give us permission, and it was supposed to be a punishment," Joe said hurriedly. Jacob gave him an incredulous look.

"Has Marco ever refused to let us use it before? And we want Charlie able to fight," Jacob said. Uneasily, Joe nodded. Heather returned, setting the case on the floor with a thump and snapping it open.

"What's gotten into you lately?" She asked Joe, passing Jacob a syringe of monster formula. Awkwardly, Jacob injected it into Charlie's upper arm.

"I'm just being careful," Joe retorted.

Heather sat up ramrod-straight. "You're scared."

"Why shouldn't I be? What good am I to Marco or Ivan Ooze without the Angel link? You saw how close he got to just replacing Jacob—none of us are safe if we aren't useful and loyal."

Charlie tore off his lower sleeve and began dabbing at his bloody ear. Jacob passed the empty syringe back to Heather, who put it back in the case and took everything away. Layla returned, and Heather quickly filled her in on what she'd missed.

"Someone should guard the Orange Ranger," Layla said.

"I'll go first," Jacob offered. Layla gave him a long, hard look, but finally nodded.

"Two floors down, you'll see her once you get there." Nodding, Jacob summoned his Storm Trident and started down.

The elevator moved very slowly. Jacob tried to process everything that had just happened as he went down. The halls were empty, and he headed down a hall towards the prison. His footsteps echoed just a little.

The Rangers probably didn't trust Charlie anymore, and most of them were stuck who knew where and when. Marco, probably, he'd been the one to program the Kronos Cube. If they still had those files, maybe they could bring the Rangers back.

A door slid open, and Jacob walked into a small, round room ringed with barred cells. The Orange Ranger sat on a metal block inside one, hands clasped around her knees. Jacob sloshed through the layer of icy water on the floor, and wrinkled his nose at the fishy stink.

The Orange Ranger looked up as he arrived, and watched him silently as he came inside. The red mark on her cheek had faded, but it looked like she'd have a lovely bruise in a few hours. Her hair straggled out of its bun and clung to her face in sodden red strands, and as Jacob came closer, he saw that she was shivering.

As water slopped over Jacob's shoes and dampened his socks, he stopped next to Elandra's cell and leaned against the bars. There was nowhere to sit down except the floor, and that was out of the question.

"Are we being watched?"

"I wish I knew," Jacob said, glancing around the room. "Probably. Maybe. I didn't even know this place existed." His fingers were going numb. Why hadn't he thought to get gloves—or a coat, for that matter—when Layla had taken him to his house?

"Marco used the virus in your system to make the Kronos Cube explode," Jacob said, with as much of a grin as he could muster. Hopefully this sounded like idiotic bragging to whoever might be listening. "Only the Pink Ranger didn't get dropped back through time, so it's going to be a pretty pitiful rescue."

"Oh, I don't know. She's a smart girl, and she's not as alone as you might think." Jacob glanced inquisitively at her, but the Orange Ranger only smiled. He wondered whether to be happy about this or not.

~oMo~

Trivia: Jacob's Sentai counterpart Ayame actually did die in the Shield Bits attack-prompting the rage attack from her brother, and Tomi-Raikou Red-went on a trip to the underworld to retrieve her.


	16. Chapter 16: Final Test

Disclaimer: Power Rangers is Saban's, Doctor Who the BBC's.

~oMo~

Charlie relieved Jacob's watch an hour later, and Jacob sloshed out. He hoped the monster formula could cure colds, because he was pretty sure he was catching one. Hopefully the water didn't mean there was a leak somewhere. He came back a few minutes later, carrying a blanket, which he slid through the bars to Elandra. Charlie gave him a questioning look.

"We don't need her getting sick," Jacob said. The Red Ranger nodded, and Elandra wrapped herself up without a word.

Jacob studied his teammate for a moment. "Is he mad at you?"

"Not much more than usual," Charlie said with a shrug. "I'm not going to be allowed to fight for a bit. Speaking of which, he's not wasting any time. You need to get upstairs for briefing." Jacob nodded, and left again.

Upstairs, Jacob found the rest of the team in Marco's—should he call it an office? His command center, Jacob supposed. Ivan Ooze was absent. Seated at his desk, Marco gave Jacob a curt nod as the Black Ranger stepped into line.

"Layla, Heather, Joe, you're going back to the Satellite Base. Destroy the Pink Ranger before she can try anything."

"Unleash the monster within!" The three shouted, morphing with flashes. Marco pushed a button on his desk, and they teleported away. Jacob glanced around, and his hands began to sweat.

"Why not send me with them, sir? The Orange Ranger's fully healed me," he said. Marco stood up, and walked up to Jacob.

"While Charlie was tricking the Stellar Rangers, one of them said that they already knew both he and you were on their side, from Fischer. Any idea what they were talking about?" Marco asked.

Jacob shook his head mutely. When he'd heard the Green Ranger speak, at the time he'd been more concerned with the mention of Fischer still being alive.

"What's more," Marco continued, turning and pacing away from Jacob, "When we hacked into the Rangers' files, they concurred. Fischer told the Rangers that you and Charlie had betrayed me. And honestly, it makes a great deal of sense, but I've decided to give you a chance to defend yourself."

"I…never knew Fischer very well," Jacob said. Hopefully the truth would set him free. "I have no idea why he'd say something like that. I may have been less than eager to serve you at the beginning, but that's changed."

"Has it?" Marco asked, fixing Jacob with a scrutinizing glare. Jacob straightened.

"It has, sir. You've saved my life over and over, that does have an effect on a person," Jacob said. Marco smirked just a little.

"Let's go," he said, standing next to Jacob.

"Unleash the monster within!" They both shouted.

~oMo~

The two flew in through the Zord Bay, again, and entered the elevator. Marco glanced at a dark smudge on one of the buttons, and pushed it. They rode up a few floors, and came out in a circular room with doors all around.

Marco went straight to one and entered the dark room beyond. Jacob followed, and realized they were in the private quarters of one of the Rangers. Blue, by the décor. It was very sparsely furnished, the most striking thing being the laptop Marco had opened up. The Purple Ranger brought up a video, and turned to Jacob.

"Freeze frame when you reach a good shot of a Weeping Angel," he ordered, and walked out. Feeling massively uncomfortable, Jacob sat down in the computer chair and hit the play button.

It was the video that had gotten Fischer killed. The Yellow Stellar Ranger—whose name turned out to be Kaiden—had been one of the people with Weeping Angels planted in their brains on the day he himself had been kidnapped by the Alchemist. Jacob stopped the video, and looked away from the Angel's face with a shiver. The stone face looked peaceful, at least, but the slightly feminine, dead-eyed statues made his skin crawl.

Marco returned, uncorking a little vial of what looked like water. Pushing past Jacob, he dripped a single drop of the stuff onto the screen, pushed the stopper back in and waited. The liquid vanished with a tiny hiss.

"Sorry, what?" Jacob asked, turning to Marco.

"This image of an Angel is basically dead, powerless without the actual Angel existing," Marco said, and held up the vial. "These are KO-35 tears, able to resurrect the dead. Do the math. Let's go."

Glancing back at the laptop in sudden apprehension, Jacob rose. Marco shut the laptop, and they both went back to the elevator.

The doors opened again, and Jacob stared in disbelief. There was a forest, right in the middle of the Satellite Base. Wait—the trees had glowing blue-white tubes running out of their tops. An artificial forest? He glanced at Marco.

"Oxygen factory," Marco said simply. "Pretty standard design in my time. Come."

Then Jacob noticed the sounds of fighting—Joe was in wolf mode again. Marco pointed Jacob towards Heather, in the other direction. There was a feminine scream, and Marco vanished. Heather spun around, and saw Jacob standing there. She darted over, and the two quickly ran to the fight.

The Pink Ranger, with a mauled and bleeding shoulder, was being held up by Layla. Joe lay on his stomach, unmorphed and human, both of Stellar Pink's sais sticking out of his back. Heather darted to his side and pulled the daggers out. He grunted in pain.

"Heather, take him outside where Ivan can teleport you both back," Marco ordered. Heather saluted, and carefully scooped up Joe. Jacob helped her throw him over her shoulder in a fireman's hold, and she started out. The Pink Ranger tugged against Layla, but the Yellow Ranger just jerked on her bad arm, making her double over with a grunt.

As the doors closed, Marco turned to Jacob. "Destroy her," he said, nodding to Rachel. Jacob started, and performed a double take or six. The Pink Ranger had stiffened, and Marco folded his arms.

"Sir," Jacob began.

"You said you'd joined me, Anderson," Marco said. "Obey." Then it hit Jacob: Marco was testing him. Then there was a beep from the Pink Ranger's direction. A strange German-accented man spoke up, his voice metallic as if coming through a radio.

"Satellite Base, this is Oberst Harper, did you send a distress signal? We have captured two of the Monster Rangers, are the others nearby, over?" What?

"Do it now!" Marco shouted. Jacob took a deep breath. Point of no return.

"Storm Trident," he said, and twirled it.

"J-Jacob," the Pink Ranger said, startling him. "Please, don't." Jacob raised his trident, hands shaking. Then he swung around and stabbed Marco in the chest. He felt the prongs slide off the suit, but the shower of sparks and shout from the Purple Ranger were intensely gratifying.

There was a metallic whistle, and the chain of Layla's meteor hammer looped around Jacob's neck. He swung around, wrapped his right leg around the chain and dragged it slack. Marco took the opportunity to disappear again, and the Pink Ranger grabbed her sais. For a moment, the two stood back-to-back.

Then the Pink Ranger was flung against a rock, hitting it with a cringe-worthy thunk. Layla's meteor hammer ripped Jacob's trident out of his hands, and it clanged against the boulder. A pair of invisible arms wrapped around Jacob's chest, pinning his arms, and the meteor hammer slammed into his ribcage.

Jacob doubled over with a grunt, and the chain wrapped around his neck again. He grabbed it, and somehow Layla tangled both of his wrists in it. Marco threw Jacob to the ground and began to punch him. Jacob was already breathless and aching all over, he barely deflected one punch. Layla's continued tangling with her meteor hammer didn't help any. He stopped struggling as the beating went on.

Dimly, Jacob felt himself dragged to his feet, and thrown over Layla's shoulders. He knew it was Layla because of the yellow. Then they were moving. The up-and-down made him feel sick.

Then he was dropped on the floor, the chain clinking around him. He was briefly blinded by the others growing giant-sized, and then Layla picked him up again. They flew out into space, and right into a war zone.

They were being shot at from every direction. Jacob blinked; he didn't recognize any of the Zords, they were moving very quickly and his vision was blurry, but they were Demi-Zord size. He wondered where Joe and Heather were. Then Layla let go of him, and with a snap, he was back in the Hexagram.

Jacob barely had time to breathe before being tackled by Toxicites. He struggled, but they just outnumbered him. They forced him to his knees and held his arms. Jacob panted, staring down at the floor. It was smudged and stained with blood. Ever since Fischer had left, nobody had tried to clean.

Ivan Ooze knelt down in front of Jacob, and cupped his chin in his hand. Jacob tried to twist away, but Ivan Ooze held him firmly. He frowned.

"We gave you chance after chance after chance, Anderson. Do you really blame us for getting sick of it?"

"You're going to kill me?" Jacob asked.

"Of course."

"Then yeah, sure, I blame you a lot," Jacob said. "You got me into this mess without even asking." Ivan stood back up, dusted off his robes, and gestured off behind Jacob. The Toxicites dragged him to his feet and backwards. His feet skidded on the floor, and he didn't have to look to know where he was going.

The Toxicites slammed Jacob into the chair, and held his arms and legs as the cuffs snapped shut. The metal was icy cold. The thickest band locked around his middle, and the shoulder clamps descended.

Layla, Charlie and Marco arrived a moment later, demorphing as they landed, and Ivan Ooze immediately gave them their monster formula injections. Jacob tested the restraints, but they wouldn't budge. He let out a shaky breath.

Layla straightened, and glanced over at Jacob. She shot a startled glance at Marco, who was rolling a shoulder around. Charlie carefully avoided looking at Jacob.

"You are _not_ going to decimate our forces now," she said.

"No, I'm going to replace a traitor," Marco said. He moved to a computer, and Layla followed. "I'm setting up the coordinates—you're going to pick up Jacob's replacement. Once we have her, we'll be able to rescue Heather and Joe." Layla cast another glance at Jacob, and bit her lip.

"Just how long will that take?" She asked, and nodded towards the chair.

"Ten, fifteen minutes," Marco said, not looking up. Jacob shuddered involuntarily.

"We still haven't named that thing," Ivan Ooze said suddenly. "The chair."

Marco shrugged. "Never seemed important. Besides, 'The Chair' has an ominous ring to it." Ivan made an "ehh" face, and shrugged. "Ready, Layla?" The Yellow Ranger nodded, and put her helmet back on. Marco teleported her out in a golden flash.

Ivan Ooze turned to Jacob, who clenched the arms of the chair convulsively. His throat had closed up, and he straightened. The morphological being cracked his knuckles, and came around behind Jacob.

"Any last words?" He asked, flicking some switches. The chair hummed to life, green filaments lighting up all through the metal.

Before Jacob could answer, the elevator trapdoor was blasted open. Marco and Charlie whirled around, and the Toxicites dropped into fighting stances. A pair of orange gloved hands seized the edge of the hole, and Elandra flipped up into the room.

"I'd have thought you'd remember that healing tears isn't the only superpower KO-35 humans possess," Elandra said. "And timing: I have it." Jacob let out a hysterical little laugh.

~oMo~

Trivia: For the longest time, Jacob's final straw would have been his father showing up during a battle, and Jacob having to rescue him from his teammates.

A/N: Thanks for reviewing, Jyhena aj jax; normally I'd reply in a PM but can't, so I'll answer your questions here. The "make my monster grow" means the way bad guys can resurrect destroyed or nearly-destroyed monsters when they make them go giant-sized. I'm not sure if the Zords can combine because they never tried—they haven't had a fight where it would have helped. Yes, yes they do have to lose, and could you please not swear? No real reason for you to. Glad Ivan Ooze surprised you.


	17. Chapter 17: Better and Worse

Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Saban. Doctor Who belongs to the BBC.

A/N: This has been slightly revised. I accidentally healed Jacob twice originally, and now Charlie has not been treated.

~oMo~

"This is preposterous!" Ivan Ooze cried, throwing up his hands. "Instead of just escaping before we noticed, you're going to try and save _him_?" He jerked a thumb at Jacob, still trapped in the green-glowing Chair.

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" Elandra asked, twirling her bow.

Ivan Ooze breathed in quickly, "—"

"Sorry, no time for an answer." Elandra opened fire.

Growing into a seven-foot giant, Marco took the blasts with little more than a grunt, and Ivan ducked behind the Chair. The Toxicites charged en masse, and so did Charlie—in the other direction.

Before anyone even realized what he was doing, Charlie had raised his crossbow and fired a series of bolts at Marco. Explosions ripped through the air, hitting Marco in the face and flinging him flat on his back with a thud.

"Hammond? What are you doing?" Ivan shouted, ducking a second volley.

"Defecting!" Charlie yelled, continuing to shoot as he ran towards the Chair. Pushing himself upright, Marco threw his chakram with a yell, but his aim was off. It slammed into Elandra's midriff, flinging her into the wall with a burst of sparks. She crumpled, demorphing, and clutched her swollen stomach with a ragged gasp.

Charlie slammed a foot into Ivan Ooze's chest, shoving him back, and hit the release button on the back of the Chair. Jacob surged to his feet, and looked to the Red Ranger.

"Help her," Charlie ordered, gesturing to Elandra. Jacob went, and flinched as Charlie blasted the Chair into rubble. There was blood all over the Orange Ranger's hands, and more pooling underneath her. Sobbing, she tried to sit up, and Jacob quickly dabbed some of her tears on her stomach.

Then a pair of Toxicites seized Jacob by the shoulders and threw him across the room. He hit the wall and crumpled, but kicked both in the chest as they charged in to finish him. Flipping himself upright, Jacob karate-chopped another Toxicite in the joint of the neck, seized him by the arm and threw him into the oncoming mob of foot soldiers.

Then there was a pop, and Jacob felt a red-hot pain shoot through his gut. Doubling over and dropping to his knees, Jacob looked up to see Ivan Ooze holding his glowing Power Coin. The blue-white light faded, and then Ivan snapped it in two again. Jacob screamed and fell on his side, panting as more of his life force drained into the coin.

He glimpsed a red flash, and guessed Charlie had been demorphed the way he had back on the Satellite Base. The Toxicites swarmed the Red Ranger, hiding him from view. Jacob's vision went blurry, and he felt one of the foot soldiers binding his hands behind his back with slick ooze.

Dragged upright, Jacob couldn't stand on his own. The Toxicite shoved him against the wall next to Elandra. She'd been tied up as well, but it looked like the bleeding had stopped. Jacob dropped his head onto his chest, exhausted.

He heard incoherent shouting, but it slowly faded. Someone was shoved next to him: Charlie. Marco was moaning, but that noise grew quieter too. He was getting very cold. If he died now, would that mean his powers were destroyed? Jacob thought so.

Then something wet dripped onto his shoulder. Almost before Jacob could wonder what it was, the cold numbness faded away, and sat up with a gasp. Elandra sat back, and looking from his shoulder to her, Jacob mouthed a silent "thank you." She nodded once, but then the Toxicites dragged her out of arm's reach of the other two.

Ivan Ooze was standing beside Marco, putting an empty syringe into a case full of monster formula. The Purple Monster Ranger stood at the computer, fully healed from the looks of it. The morphological being kicked a piece of the smashed Chair out of his way with a growl.

"Now what? If we kill them, we lose their powers. If we don't kill them, they can escape or turn on us again. I think we should at least get rid of Black—his powers aren't all that useful, anyway."

"Waste not, want not," Marco said without looking up. He was turning the Orange Ranger's Power Ring in his left hand. "Where's Layla? She should have been back by now."

"Well, from what I've heard, our replacement actually has fighting experience. She might be resisting," Ivan said, putting the case of syringes against the side of the desk. "Just track her morpher and teleport her back, if it's that big a deal."

Then the entire base rumbled. Ivan Ooze threw his hands in the air and shoved past Marco to look at the computer. The Purple Ranger glanced from Ivan to the prisoners, and his brow furrowed. He set Elandra's Power Ring down beside the keyboard.

Striding across the Hexagram, he bent over the Orange Ranger. Now that Jacob was paying attention, the woman was breathing oddly fast, and as Marco put a hand on her shoulder, she hissed and shut her eyes.

"What is it?" Marco asked suspiciously.

"Not _exactly_ sure," Elandra gasped, opening her eyes to meet his gaze. "But I think it's premature labor brought on by abdominal trauma."

"They're back!" Ivan exclaimed, whirling on Marco. The Purple Monster Ranger sprang to his feet almost guiltily. "Stellar Red, Blue and Green are attacking us again! Also, they're glowing."

"It's just Hyper Mode, I'll deal with them," Marco said, "Bring Layla back to help. Call up Stellar Corps and tell them we'll kill their Orange Ranger if they keep it up." Nodding, Ivan pushed the teleport button, and Marco vanished in a column of purple light.

Then Ivan switched the computer image. "Layla? Layla? Wait, no signal? How's that possible—wait…" He punched in another command. "That idiot girl!" The computer screen changed, and Jacob glimpsed Layla over Ivan Ooze's shoulder. "Why are you in the Satellite Base?" Ivan demanded. "I sent you to get Jacob's replacement!"

"Sir, I've successfully rescued Heather and Joe and captured Stellar Rangers Pink and Yellow," Layla replied. Ivan's face lit up with a huge grin.

"Well done—just fly it down here," he said. Another alarm began to sound, and the lights flickered. "Oh what now?" Ivan moaned, throwing up his hands. Layla's image faded into static and the computer's screen glowed blue for a moment before dying with a pop.

At that point, a chunk of the floor was blasted up. The Blue Stellar Ranger sprang up through the hole, to everyone's great surprise. Red followed a second later, and the Toxicites all dropped into fighting stances.

"Hi," the Red Ranger said. "Is this it? We were kind of expecting a bigger turn-out."

"Ha-ha-ha," Ivan said. He gestured to the Toxicites, who dragged Elandra to her feet. "You two and Stellar Green are the only members of your team who haven't been captured. Now, unless you want me to have the Orange Ranger's neck snapped, drop the weapons."

The two exchanged a look. "Well, Ivan Ooze, there's something kind of important that you've missed," The Blue Ranger said. Ivan Ooze raised an eyebrow. The alarm turned off abruptly.

"Tony? What's going on up there?" Rex asked, putting a hand to his ear.

"Marco's out and about. Don't worry, I think I can handle it. Probably," the Green Ranger replied. Ivan let out a short laugh. The Blue Ranger flicked the end of his nunchuks over his shoulder, and went on in a conversational tone.

"You see, back when I first stopped your little present from stealing all of our files, I decided to return the favor with one of my old standbys—the government named it HX9."

James strolled right up to Elandra as he spoke. The Toxicites looked to Ivan in obvious bewilderment, but he didn't do anything, so neither did they. James's eyes flashed blue again, and he turned back to Ivan Ooze.

"It digs through all of your files, downloads them to its mother computer—on the Satellite Base in this case—and then shuts them down one by one, starting with weapons and communications. You're totally cut off by now," James finished. He held up a hand. "Oh, and...Three, two, one."

The lights flickered and died with a whine, and the room exploded into blind chaos. Surging to his feet, Jacob lunged in Elandra's direction, tacking one of the Toxicites to the floor. The foot soldiers screeched and ran around, the Rangers' helmet lights shone around, and there was a lot of yelling. His powers were still not working, because Jacob couldn't see a thing. Still, the Toxicites were very noisy, and it wasn't hard to find them.

His fingers closed over a slick, bony shoulder, and Jacob turned the Toxicite around and punched it in the head. It jerked back, and Jacob gave it a kick to the chest to finish it. Then goop dropped down on his outstretched leg from the ceiling, and Jacob was jerked upside-down into the air.

Then, with a burst that made him feel briefly sick, Jacob could see in the dark. Whatever Ivan had used to turn off his powers must have died. Lunging upwards, Jacob caught the Toxicite by the elbow as it tried to climb down and trap him further. It dragged him up to the ceiling, and they wrestled. Jacob managed to wrap the ooze still attached to his ankle around the creature's arm, and let go of it.

The drop ripped the ooze off Jacob's leg, and he jarred his left arm all the way up to his shoulder. His fingers and hand tingled painfully, and he cradled his arm against his chest. Sitting up, Jacob saw the others all in combat except for Elandra. Pushing himself up, Jacob went to the computer. Her Power Ring was small, but Jacob soon found it, and ducked past the fight.

"Here," he said, grabbing her hand and thrusting the Ring into it. She shoved it on, and the saffron light made Jacob's unadjusted eyes water. He looked away, and saw Charlie crawling around on the ceiling, knocking Toxicites down onto their fellows. As each of the foot soldiers reached its limit of hits, it collapsed into a puddle of black goo. There weren't many left by now.

There was a deep, low rumbling sound. All of the combatants paused. Cackling laughter began to echo around the dark room, and Jacob tried to spot Ivan in the shadows.

"That would be your Satellite Base, with my other, more loyal Rangers aboard. Consider yourselves doomed," he said. Finally Jacob spotted the morphological being, just as he collapsed into goo and slithered down the hole the Stellar Rangers had entered by.

"Oh no you don't," Jacob said, and dove after him. This time he landed on his feet, and darted after the goop as it headed for the wall. A small, square trapdoor opened and it vanished inside, Jacob leaping after it. The closing door pinned his ankle, but Jacob yanked it free—losing his shoe—and and beginning to crawl down the tunnel.

The sounds of battle faded. Jacob's breathing sounded tinny and harsh in the narrow, metal-lined space. He could hear Ivan moving ahead, and pushed himself harder. Unexpectedly, the noise stopped.

Jacob paused, heart racing. Had he lost Ivan? But then Ivan Ooze's voice floated down the passage towards Jacob.

"You're a stubborn one, aren't you? Are you just coming after me because I done you wrong, Anderson?"

"Sure, why not?" Jacob replied, and scooted forward.

"I'm sure I could find some way to pay you back for that," Ivan Ooze said. "Who knows, maybe I could help you and your girlfriend."

"I doubt it," Jacob said, still coming forward. There was a slithery sound.

"Ah, ah, ah, I'll only stay still if you do," Ivan Ooze said. Jacob halted. Maybe if he kept Ivan talking for long enough, someone would find them. After all, his shoe was either wedged in or lying right outside the door, and someone would come down to look for one of them sooner or later. "And you shouldn't be so hasty in turning down good, genuine offers."

"How am I supposed to tell if it's genuine? You're scared, you'll say anything to save your skin," Jacob said.

"Scared? Of you? Please!" Ivan retorted. "I just think there's a more pleasant way for us to work this out than running around. After all," his voice hardened a little, "You may not be in as deep as me, but you're hardly a saint. You agreed to serve me, and did a rather good job of it at that. I'm sure that on one of the three planets you've attacked, you've earned at least a small prison sentence. Though I imagine the trial is going to be incredibly messy."

Jacob bit his lip. The creep had a point—though with Fischer alive, he could prove his and Charlie's duplicity, and Joe's inability to control himself. But Heather and Layla…

"You're a smart boy, I'm sure you can imagine what life would be like for you and your teammates even if you were all pardoned. You did have to go and pick the freakiest to date, didn't you? Can you imagine what life would be like for her out there?"

"How long are you planning to sell me your idea before actually telling me what it is?" Jacob asked. Ivan laughed again, a bubbling sound.

"We can run. Forget conquering Earth, we can find a nice little planet on the other side of the galaxy and take over. People won't dare make fun of you—or we could even transform them to match!"

"You…are sick," Jacob said, shaking his head.

"I'll take that as a no." Jacob started crawling again. The noise from up ahead grew louder, and Jacob picked up his pace. He could see Ivan Ooze now, a purple blob lying spread across a good section of the tunnel ahead.

Then purple goop began to ball up, filling the tunnel. Jacob could hear a rumbling roar, and grabbed for his morpher before realizing it wasn't there. Ivan Ooze blasted into Jacob, and he tried in vain to cover his face. Flailing, he only hit the tunnel's sides and roof, bruising his own limbs. The stuff filled his nose and mouth, and he couldn't hack it out no matter how he tried. The last thing Jacob heard, as he passed out, was Ivan Ooze laughing in his ears—almost literally.

~oMo~

Trivia: This is originally the area Heather and Jacob's relationship would have gone sour. She'd have gotten to the point where him deciding to be a good guy meant he was abandoning her, and attacked him for it.


	18. Chapter 18: Possession

Disclaimer: Doctor Who and Power Rangers belong to their respective owners, neither of which is me.

~oMo~

Jacob woke up with a pounding headache. He was lying on his back, staring up at a blurry and purple-tinted ceiling, and he tried to blink it away. Nothing changed. It was very, very dark. There was a metallic rending sound that jarred all the way through Jacob's bones, and he sat up sharply.

Panting, Jacob looked around. He was in the dark training room, alone by the looks of it. There was a weird grinding sound coming from somewhere below him, along with running water.

"Awake at last, eh?" Jacob whirled around, looking for the speaker, before realizing that Ivan Ooze's voice was resonating inside his head. The morphological being laughed, sending a chill down Jacob's spine. "What? Surely this isn't all that strange. Your brain seemed like a good place to hide, what with the Stellar Rangers crawling all over this place."

"Get out!" Jacob cried, scrambling to his feet. He was shaky and slipped, catching himself just in time.

"Oh, I don't think so," Ivan Ooze said, in a lower voice. Jacob snapped upright, and discovered that he couldn't move. His joints locked into place with a series of pops. "If the Rangers find me, they'll kill me. If you do what I want, nobody will get hurt, and I'll leave your body once it's safe. If you resist, then I'll just make you do what I want—even if I have to kill everyone else and cripple you to do it. Understood?"

Jacob and Ivan Ooze's minds were intertwined. Jacob could tell the morphological being was sincere, and Ivan sensed Jacob's frustration. There was something else, though, hovering on the edges of Jacob's mind.

"Oh, that's just Marco—ever since I bonded with him I can't seem to get rid of the beastly fellow's emotions," Ivan said, and began flicking through Jacob's ideas. "Don't think you can try anything—I can read every thought as you come up with it. Oh come on, really? Even if one of the Rangers knew Morse Code, are you serious? Blinking? Now, have we got an understanding?"

"Yes," Jacob growled aloud. His joints unlocked, and he staggered. He nearly tripped over a chunk of fallen ceiling metal, and caught the wall for balance. No wonder Marco hated having Ivan in his head.

"He was always so cranky," Ivan said with a chuckle. "It was hilarious."

"_How'd we get out of the tunnel?"_ Jacob asked.

"Stellar Red pulled you out and crawled inside to look for me," Ivan replied, and chuckled again. Jacob sighed.

"_Where now?"_ He asked.

"Outside. Just get me out of the Rangers' reach," Ivan Ooze said. Jacob grinned, sensing the morphological being's fear, and yelped at a sudden pain in his head. "Remember, I can control your body whenever I want, including the pain centers of your brain," Ivan warned.

"Right," Jacob growled, and turned to find his usual exit into the lake. Then he discovered that all of the doors were automatic, and therefore wouldn't work without power.

"I'll handle it," Ivan said, and Jacob's right hand rose up and planted itself on the edge of the door. Jacob hissed as purple ooze began seeping out of his skin and from under his nails, slipping into the crack. The metal bent back then crumpled like aluminum foil, with a teeth-grinding groan.

Ivan tried to get Jacob's legs moving, but Jacob fought back. He kicked the door reflexively and nearly fell down, but kept staring at his hand.

"_Wait…there's something important here,"_ he said to Ivan.

Then it hit him all at once. No webs. His fingers were fully separate. And…Jacob felt in his mouth with his tongue, and discovered his teeth were all normal. Checking his neck, he discovered that there were no gills. How?

Ivan figured it out first, and smacked his forehead hard enough to sting. _"KO-35 tears don't just heal, they restore. You're nothing but a human now!"_

"_Wait…why didn't I see this before? Elandra healed me yesterday!"_ Jacob demanded.

"_You're an idiot,"_ Ivan replied._ "Though you haven't tried using your gills since then. You should still be able to breathe underwater, though, that's linked to your powers. Come on!"_

"Jacob? What are you doing?" Oh no, Heather—Ivan whirled around and fired a bolt of purple lightning from his index finger. It slammed into Heather and threw her into the wall, and Jacob screamed. Shocks jolted through his mind, but he forced Ivan back and crawled to Heather's side. She stirred and groaned, and Jacob gently rolled her towards him. There was a smoking black hole over her right breast pocket, and as Jacob realized what had happened, Ivan grabbed the reins again.

He unzipped the pocket, and drew a battered, smoking Lightspeed badge out of the pocket with his fingertips—it burned. Tossing it aside, Ivan growled in annoyance, and Jacob heard a thready laugh. It was Heather, looking at the badge with an incredulous, pained smile.

"How—" she began, and looked down at the scorch mark. "Ivan?"

"In the flesh—well, in Jacob's flesh. He is not a happy camper," Ivan said, smirking. Heather smiled wider.

"They're combing the base for you," she said. "Only Marco's still on your side and Stellar Blue's scanning everyone's minds. They'll find you any second now."

"I don't think so," Ivan replied, and seizing Heather's head, kissed her. Jacob felt his mind clear, and the ooze leave his body and go into Heather's. Her eyes glowed purple, and she broke away, both of them panting for breath. Jacob rested his head in his hands, feeling sick. He heard Heather get up.

"Well, never been a girl before," Ivan said, with Heather's voice. Jacob looked up to see Heather checking out her hair, and doing a little hop, looking down at her chest. She had a very creepy smirk. "I should have done this ages ago!"

"Stop it," Jacob said, standing up straight. Heather pouted.

Then Jacob was slammed into the wall, and swung around to see Marco seize Heather by the shoulders. The Purple Monster Ranger was dripping wet, trembling, and covered in scorch marks. In a few places, his armor had been burned away to reveal blistering red skin beneath.

"Where is the crack, Ivan?" He demanded, in a low and controlled voice. "I'm going."

"The crack? That thing is nowhere near stable—" Ivan protested, but Marco seized Heather's shoulders and slammed her into the wall.

"Where—is—the—crack?" He enunciated.

"Fine," Ivan said, slapping his hands away. He started down the hall. "If you get erased or burned up or trapped in the void between worlds, don't come crying to me. Oh, and bring Jacob."

Before Jacob could react, Marco seized him by the arms and began dragging him after them. His vision briefly turned blue.

"Why not just kill him?" Marco asked.

"Human shield," Ivan called. It sounded so wrong in Heather's voice. "And this body_ really_ doesn't want him dead."

Heather opened a door, though it moved very slowly, and Jacob blinked as white light poured out of the room. Nearly blinded, he was pulled inside by Marco and shoved into a corner. There was a high, barely audible hum that set his teeth on edge. Slowly, Jacob's eyes adjusted.

The light was coming from a crack in the wall, between a pair of pillars. Heather had opened a panel on one of the pillars, and was fiddling with the circuitry inside. Marco looked down at Jacob, and then at the pillar. Then he grabbed Jacob by the scruff of the neck and slammed him headfirst into the wall. Fireworks exploded behind Jacob's eyes, and he crumpled.

Jacob didn't pass out, but for a little while everything was very foggy. Something warm and wet was running down his forehead, which throbbed hotly. Slowly, the pain focused in on one spot, and Jacob grew lucid again.

The humming was louder, and a chill ran down Jacob's spine. He could still hear Marco and Heather pushing buttons and throwing levers. Ivan was whistling something familiar that Jacob couldn't quite place. The air smelled like electricity, and Jacob could taste coppery blood in his mouth. Cautiously, he sat up, pausing whenever the room started to spin—which happened a lot as he moved.

Then there was a metallic crunch from the door, and Jacob started, gasping as his head pounded. Marco and Heather whirled around, as the door was ripped right out of the doorway, and all of the other Rangers poured into the room. Well, Orange wasn't there, understandably. Then he was yanked to his feet by Marco, and swayed as the room blurred.

"Hold it," Ivan said, placing Heather's hand on a cluster of exposed wires in the pillar. The Rangers stopped, and spread out in a line. Jacob felt water seep into his boots, and looked down to see a ripple of water flowing across the floor. It met the crack, and evaporated with a hiss.

"That," Heather gestured to the crack, "Is a rip in the skin of the universe, and it really, really wants to devour a chunk of matter about the size of this very base. The only things holding it shut are these lovely stabilizers," she tapped one of the pillars, smirking. "Do you want to see what happens if I sabotage one?"

The Rangers exchanged glances. Jacob, swallowing back bile, looked at them one by one. The Blue Ranger's eyes glinted under his visor. He was up to something. Jacob could feel Marco's hand trembling.

"Won't you get fried if you rip out a bunch of wires like that?" Stellar Red—Rex—asked. Heather shrugged.

"I'll take over someone else's body if this one gets destroyed. Now, everyone, out. After all, Marco's just trying to get home here," Ivan said. Rex folded his arms.

"You're bluffing. That much electricity would destroy you too, Ivan," he said.

"Since when are we on a first-name basis?" Ivan retorted. The blue light behind James's visor grew brighter, and Jacob hoped neither Ivan nor Marco noticed.

"What are you going to do? Go through the crack yourself?" The Pink Ranger asked. Heather rolled her eyes.

"It's unstable, and I'm nowhere near as desperate as that guy," Heather, said jerking a thumb towards Marco. He backed up a step, just a bit closer to the crack. Steam wafted from it.

Then Heather's eyes glowed blue-violet and her knees buckled. With a gasp, she shook her head and looked up at the cluster of Rangers. Jacob smiled in relief; she was Heather again.

"Shoot. Me. El—Elandra can bring me back."

Jacob opened his mouth to protest, but Charlie raised his crossbow and fired a single bolt of energy. It struck Heather in the chest, and she swayed with the impact. Her eyes glowed violet and Jacob tried to pull free of Marco in vain.

"Curses!" Ivan choked with her voice, and Heather crumpled flat on her back. Purple ooze drew out of her body and coalesced into Ivan Ooze's normal body. His face twisting with rage, he began shooting violet lightning at the Rangers. They charged.

Marco shoved Jacob to the floor, and he scraped his hands catching himself. His head cut was still bleeding, half-blinding him. He looked up, shaking, at Heather, and crawled over to her. She was splayed out over the floor, not moving. Jacob held his shaking hand over her nose and mouth; she wasn't breathing.

Ivan was losing. He shifted back into ooze form and darted out a ventilation shaft. Jacob twisted around with a groan, and saw Marco step towards the crack, hand outstretched. He touched it, and his entire body glowed white.

There was a thunderous crack, and the Purple Ranger was thrown flat on his back. Jacob looked at Marco's still-raised hand, and realized with horror that it was collapsing into dust. The crack grew wider, and there was a metallic rumble. Jacob saw the nearest stabilizer begin to bend towards the crack, and he felt a wind pick up.

"Never mind Ooze, this could well do our job for us," Rex said. "Charlie, Joe, Layla, get your teammates and Elandra out. Everyone else, Demi-Zords, now!" The Stellar Rangers darted out, and Jacob's teammates gathered around him.

"Y-you killed her!" Jacob stammered to Charlie. The Red Ranger gathered Heather in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder.

"And there's a woman upstairs whose tears can bring back the dead," he replied calmly. Layla put Jacob's arm around her shoulders, and pulled him upright.

"Oh," was all Jacob could say. Heather's left arm swung crazily as Charlie started out the door. Layla followed, but Jacob looked around. Joe was kneeling beside Marco, listening to something the Purple Monster Ranger was saying. Then the man's entire body became dust.

"Come on!" Layla ordered, and Joe ran towards them. Both pillars bent double and tore apart with screams of metal, and flew into the crack. It split from floor to ceiling as Joe, the straggler, scrambled into the hallway.

"This way," Charlie said, and led the four down the hall. The water sloshed around their ankles as they ran, and Jacob could smell burnt-out circuitry. One wall panel had been torn open and black smoke poured into the hall.

Finally, the Monster Rangers reached a trapdoor in the ceiling. Charlie switched Heather to piggyback, and began climbing up the wall. Waiting for him, Layla glanced at Jacob, and performed a double take.

"Your eyes were yellow, weren't they?" She asked.

"Yeah, but Elandra's tears did more than heal me," Jacob said with a grin. Joe turned.

"They used that to cure me, too," he said, and sheathing his sword, he pulled off his helmet. His eyes were black—not all-over black like the girls' had been, but just the irises. He felt his teeth with a finger, and Jacob saw that they were human as well. Joe whooped, and threw his helmet in the air.

Charlie's arm shot through the hole and caught the helmet, and then he poked his head through. "You guys feel like coming up any time soon?"

"Coming," Joe said, subdued. Charlie leaned through the hole and as Joe jumped, the Red Ranger caught his wrists and swung him up into the room. He did the same for Jacob, and finally Layla. The Orange Ranger, unmorphed, was seated next to the still-dead Heather. Charlie tossed Jacob his morpher.

"We're all together. Marco's dead, and the entire Hexagram is collapsing in on the crack," he said. Jacob heard the other Red Ranger's voice.

"Okay," Rex said. "On the count of three, break out. Monster Rangers, grow. Ready?"

"Unleash the monster within!" Jacob shouted.

_Jacob dives into deep, black water. As the air rushes past him in bubbles, his skin turns into scales, which thicken and solidify into a Black Ranger uniform. He shoots up out of the water and lands on one knee, arms outstretched._

"One, two, three!" Rex shouted. The white light blazed through the trapdoor, and Layla seized Elandra by the shoulders.

"By the power and force of lightning, make us grow!" The four Monster Rangers shouted. They exploded through the roof in a flurry of bubbles and rushing water. Jacob glimpsed Charlie holding Heather in one hand. Then they were all rushing upwards.

They broke the surface, and Layla opened her cupped hands, exposing a soaked Elandra to the air. The Orange Ranger rolled over on her back and coughed, as the four flew out of the water. Charlie led them to the cliff on the side of the Hexagram, as the Demi-Zords broke the surface. Charlie and Layla set their passengers down.

"Power down," the Monster Rangers said unanimously, and shrank. Ripping off his helmet, Jacob ran to the pair. Elandra swiped at her eyes, and put a damp hand on the Green Ranger's forehead. Jacob slid an arm under Heather's shoulders and picked her up, as his teammates gathered around them.

The Demi-Zords landed quietly in a loose semicircle around them. For a second, as Jacob stared at Heather, nothing happened. Then, with an almost-sound like a sigh, her skin flushed pink. The white streaks in her hair darkened and vanished, and her chest rose and fell with a breath. Her eyes opened: blue, not all-black.

"Did it work?" She asked.

"Yeah," Jacob said, "We've won." Sitting up straighter, Heather threw her arms around Jacob's neck, and they hugged tightly. He was aware of the others around them, and the Stellar Rangers talking, but didn't particularly care. They'd finally done it.

"Joe," Layla said, startling the Blue Ranger. Heather and Jacob broke apart, feeling self-conscious. Then she noticed her hands, and froze.

"Elandra," Jacob said, and cuffed her gently. "Told you they could fix it." Heather shook her head, in deep shock. Stellar Red was carrying Elandra to the Dash Zord, the Pink Ranger following at his heels. "What did Marco say to you?"

"What?" Kaiden asked, startled. Joe looked down at his hands.

"Just before he…Marco told me to tell all of you that he's sorry. For everything. He also said that was incredibly weak, but all he could say," Joe said. "He's sorry."

~oMo~

Trivia: This climax got rewritten so often...at different points it involved Layla turning good, an evil twelve-year-old clone of Elandra (don't ask) turning good, the Hexagram getting ripped off its base and dumped on land, Marco surviving, Jacob dying to stop Ivan Ooze instead of Heather, or Jacob getting smothered to death by Ivan in the tunnel.


	19. Chapter 19: Closure

Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Saban.

~oMo~

Layla dabbed Charlie's elbow with Elandra's collected tears, and the Red Ranger watched as pinkish-brown pigment spread across his skin. He blinked, and his eyes went from red to brown, and he let out a long breath.

"Why do they call this skin color white? I was white five seconds ago; this is not it," he said. Layla shrugged, and set the vial aside. All five Monster Rangers were in the sparring room, though all of the weapons had been removed. The Stellar Rangers had politely taken their morphers away and locked them inside.

It was currently very early morning, and Heather and Joe were already asleep. Jacob was partway there, but watching his other two teammates re-humanize themselves through slitted eyelids.

"What are we going to do now?" Layla asked, folding her hands in her lap and looking to Charlie. The Red Ranger shook his head.

"Run, maybe. We'd be a lot more help to the galaxy fighting evil on its doorstep than locked up in prison somewhere," he said.

"Would they pursue us?" Layla asked.

"Maybe, depending on whether they believed us," Charlie said.

"It sounds cowardly," Layla said. Charlie gave her a sideways glance, brow furrowed. "Besides, we'd probably never get to see our families again."

Charlie let out a little, bitter laugh. "Not an issue for me thanks to Ivan Ooze."

"What?" Layla asked sharply.

"My mom was a witness, so Ivan got rid of her," Charlie said. Jacob heard a soft sound, and opened his eyes to see Layla put a hand on Charlie's shoulder.

"If I had known, I would have joined you in trying to destroy him," she said quietly.

"Would you really?" Charlie asked flatly.

"In a heartbeat."

"I wish I'd thought of that before," Charlie said, with an audible smile. Then he switched to a businesslike tone. "So, UN Demi-Zords come to take us to their base tomorrow morning. Are we going to stay for them?"

"Everyone should have a say in this," Layla said. Charlie nodded, and reached over to wake up Heather and Joe. Rubbing his eyes, Jacob pushed himself up on an elbow before Layla could try to rouse him.

Charlie re-explained the situation, and Jacob tried to keep his eyes open. He waited just until Charlie finished talking.

"We should stay," he said. "Who knows, maybe if you tell them your idea they'll make it our community service or something, and we'll still get to see our families again before that."

"I do _not_ want to go into deep space," Joe said, shaking his head emphatically. Heather gave Charlie a sympathetic look.

"I'm just tired of being the bad guy," she said. Slowly, Charlie nodded.

"Okay, then. Get some rest," he said. Gratefully, Jacob lay back down and pillowed his head on his arm. He was asleep in seconds.

~oMo~

Jacob glanced up at the sound of the door opening, and saw the Red Stellar Ranger enter. The UN Demi-Zord force—Zeuth—officers had been civil, but quite clear; the Monster Rangers were prisoners until further notice. They'd all been locked up separately, but had gotten fair treatment.

Rex walked inside, not even glancing at the two-way mirror, and sat in the chair across from Jacob. The former Black Ranger wished his teammates were there (or at least Heather), sighed and sat up straight on the bunk.

"What happens to us now?" He asked.

"You're in a very unique circumstance," Rex said, leaning forward and folding his arms. "You've caused a lot of property damage, and more than a few deaths, but it's clear you were all under coercion, and several of you tried to help us. So, I've got an offer for you. Join Zeuth. We need experienced people; you need some way to pay back the world."

Jacob blinked. He'd already come up with a few different future scenarios, but joining the UN had not been one of them. Rex raised his eyebrows, and waited.

"S-sure," Jacob stammered. He shook his head, and said more firmly, "Yes." Rex grinned.

"Good, I thought you would. You're free to go now—and I mean really go. You've got two weeks' leave. Here," he pulled out a slip of paper and passed it to Jacob. "Be at this address on the eighteenth, eight o'clock on the dot."

Jacob stared at the address. He noticed Rex get up and leave, but didn't really comprehend it. The Red Ranger paused at the door.

"Oh, you may want to start by leaving the room; that usually works for me," he said. "It's kind of a maze out there, so go down the hallway to the third door on your left, number 44."

"Huh? Oh, sure," Jacob said, springing up. Rex held the door for him, and Jacob mumbled a thanks. His mind was still trying to grasp what had just happened.

The switch from yellowy fluorescent light to blue-white daylight was jolting, and Jacob just stood there in the hallway for a moment. Uniformed men and women went by on various jobs, not so much as glancing at him. There were skylights all along the hallway ceilings, as they branched off in different directions.

Jacob began to walk. Third door on the left it was. He wondered exactly where this Zeuth base was—and more importantly, how close to home. His dad had worried about him for long enough.

The door in question was ajar, and Jacob pushed it open. It looked like a meeting room, and someone else was already inside, looking out the panoramic window on the far wall. He was a grayish man, in his forties or early fifties by the looks of it—and then it hit Jacob. His mouth went dry.

"Dad?" The man turned around, and froze when he saw Jacob. The two stared at each other. Maybe it was the light, but Hank Anderson looked older than Jacob remembered.

"Jacob?" Slipping around the table, he looked his son up and down in disbelief.

"Hi, Dad," Jacob said at last. Then he shrugged. "I'm back."

With a joyful cry, Hank Anderson seized his son in a bear hug. They both staggered, but didn't let go. Only now did it really hit Jacob that he was really free of the Alchemist. His eyes prickled, and he tried to blink it away. No, I am _not_ going to cry. I'm not.

Hank finally broke the embrace, and looked at his son. He was already in tears, and that only made Jacob worse. Even so, he couldn't stop grinning, which didn't help.

"I thought I would never see you again," Mr. Anderson said. "Even after they found you, I…"

"Me too," Jacob said, and swiped at the stupid tears. "Oh, I've got so much to tell you, Dad."

"Well, we've got time," Hank Anderson said with a laugh. Jacob looked around, grabbed a chair and sat, his father following suit. He laughed shakily.

"I don't know where to start! You go first," he said. "Yours is probably shorter."

Hank Anderson paused. His expression saddened a little as he slipped back into his memories. "I heard about the attack on the news, the normal way, and looked for you in the footage. The next day I got the call, that you were missing presumed—dead." The last word stuck in his mouth. He hurried on. "That you'd been doing your duty, and saved a civilian's life—her name's Jackie Peters, actually, she came over after getting out of the hospital to personally thank me. She started coming over about once a week from then on."

"Then, right about the time the Purple Ranger showed up, Zeuth released your name, and put out some searches for the others—similar people from the area who'd disappeared without a trace. After that, I watched every single fight you were in. During the one in Stone Canyon last week, I was standing on the roof with binoculars," he paused, and shivered. "I thought you were dead. Again."

"So did I," Jacob admitted.

"Zeuth kept giving out little bits of information. When they said you weren't really on the Alchemist's side, I just told everyone that I knew it, you couldn't just turn evil like that," Hank said, with a gleam of pride in his eye. "Then they called me up this morning and said to come down here. And here we are."

Jacob rested his head on his hand, and let it all sink in. Hank let him, still not taking his eyes off his long-lost son. At last, he spoke up again. "It's your turn."

Jacob blew out a slow breath, and organized his thoughts. "Okay. Well, the last thing I remembered from the accident was the roof falling in, and then I woke up…"

~oMo~

Jacob walked out onto the landing pad of the Zeuth base, at night. There was only the tiniest sliver of the moon showing, but the stars were bright. It was cold and windy, but Jacob ignored it. It was nice just to be outside without having to go blow something up, for once. He spotted Joe standing on the far side of the pad, and walked over.

The teen was tense and very quiet, only nodding or grunting to any questions. For a while, Jacob tried to watch the sky. Then he shook his head.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Joe sighed through his teeth.

"It wasn't entirely the Angels. I liked fighting," he said.

"Why?" Jacob asked.

"It was fun—the giant robots, the fights, even the explosions. I liked them," Joe said.

"Guess what, that's kind of normal for a Power Ranger," Jacob said, with a wry grin.

"And I still have dreams about the Weeping Angels," Joe said. "I don't think they'll ever go away entirely."

"Maybe not," Jacob said. "But dreams are just dreams. Not really that big a deal."

"Maybe," Joe said, sounding unconvinced. Jacob turned to fully face him.

"Joe, it's ended. You can start trying to get over it now," he said. Joe's expression was stony. Jacob shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. He tried again. "Look, there have been—and are right now—Rangers out there with worse pasts than you and me put together. Out of all of us, you have probably the least to feel guilty about right now. So please, stop agonizing over it. And weird dreams can come in handy."

Joe shoved his hands into his pockets, nodding, turned and walked away. Jacob watched him for a little while, and made a mental note to get him some help. He'd heard the Yellow Stellar Ranger was pretty good at dealing with angst.

Then Jacob heard footsteps, and turned to see Heather coming towards him. It took him a moment to recognize her, now that she wasn't green anymore. Jacob stood, feeling suddenly awkward.

"Hey," Heather said, stopping beside Jacob. Her breath was visible.

"Hey," he replied, clasping his hands behind his back. "You've joined, too?"

"Yeah," Heather said. "We all did—I've been exploring, and you were the last one I found."

"Good," Jacob said, and looked up at the stars. After the long conversation with his father—he'd had to keep stopping and explaining things throughout—he'd been talked out. Besides, he couldn't think of anything to say.

Heather folded her arms and looked up at the sky. "My parents and I met your dad, too. He's nice."

"I know," Jacob said, smiling a little.

"So…you switched sides because Marco told you to destroy Stellar Pink," Heather said. Jacob looked at her, startled.

"Wanting to not murder someone and crushing on them are two different things, Heather!" He said. She flushed, but still looked ill at ease.

"We're both different now," Heather said.

"Oh for Pete's sake," Jacob said, and wrapping his arms around Heather, kissed her. Their teeth clinked. Her arms snaked around him, and the wind blew her hair against his cheek. At last, they broke apart.

"Satisfied?" Jacob asked, a little breathless.

"Yeah," Heather said. Her face was pinkish. She pulled her hair back, tucking it over her ears.

"Good," Jacob said. "So, would you like to try a normal date sometime, or should we just stick to sparring sessions?" Heather smiled.

"Let's do something normal, just to shake things up," she said.

"Great," Jacob said, grinning. Seriously, he added, "It was never a lack of options, Heather."

"Really?" Heather asked skeptically.

"Okay, fine, at first," Jacob admitted. Heather laughed, and they started back inside.

~oMo~

Trivia: The woman Jacob saved is named after Jackie and Pete Tyler, because I just _needed_ another Doctor Who reference!

A/N: Woohoo, I'm done! It was a lot of fun, but I'm very glad to have completed these stories at last!


End file.
